


A Devil That Looks Like an Angel

by Fast Bean Juice (fast_bean_juice)



Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: F/F, is the ship name mimin or 2mi, pls help i still have no idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23741914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fast_bean_juice/pseuds/Fast%20Bean%20Juice
Summary: Minnie has been suffering a mysterious aliament for years and she can't seem to remember anything beyond these last few years. She keeps having this strange dream of a woman over and over again, with occasional visions visiting her during the day as well.In which (G)i-dle is in a magical world AU with angels, devils, and mortal magicians.AFF link to the story: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1440337
Relationships: Cho Miyeon/Minnie Nicha Yontararak, Jeon Soyeon/Song Yuqi, Seo Soojin/Yeh Shuhua
Comments: 26
Kudos: 128





	1. Glimpse of Heaven

She feels herself sinking into slick coldness as she listens to the sound of flames crackling. Her vision is hazy, but she can see the thick dark clouds starting to cover the sky. She sees wisps of smoke coming from the blackening wood of burning homes, raising panic among the villagers as it swirls up in spirals.

It had been such a beautiful day before; what a shame.

It was supposed to be a great day, she was finally supposed to see her family again after quite a while. Minnie closes her eyes and she doesn’t know why, but there’s this feeling of irony that seems to be looming over her. She lets out a small laugh which turns into a fit of coughs. There’s an itch that she can’t seem to get rid of and smoke keeps scratching against her lungs as she desperately gasps for air.

It takes a while before she’s able to snap out of it, but she finally gets rid of the itch and spits a swat of saliva out. And, it’s as if a small fire was sparked inside of her throat when she let out that last cough, yet the rest of her body feels so cold. She can barely feel her hands anymore as she brings them up to wipe her face after that last nasty spit of hers. When she brings her hands down, her vision flickers, but she can see a smear of red painted across the back of her hands. She licks her lips and notices a coppery tange left behind. She laughs, she laughs so hard that she coughs again and starts crying. Salty tears and blood run down her face and mix into the reddish mud she’s fallen into.

She blinks and the sky turns red, her vision drifts in and out of focus but she can see a beautiful girl get closer to her. Her hair is this wonderful shade of brown that seems so soft and her skin seems like it’s made out of porcelain just like a doll. Minnie finds it strange how the girl seems so unfazed by the chaos that led the village completely astray—her dress even looked pure white, perfectly untouched, and her face, despite the blurriness in her vision, seemed so clean. It was almost as if she was a polished statue that came to life from one of the worshiping temples.

“You’re just like an angel,” Minnie mutters.

The girl seems to pause for a second, but then her figure seems to fade away in blur. Minnie’s head starts to hurt, there’s this aching pain piercing through her forehead. She closes her eyes and she feels someone lifting her head from behind, resting it on their lap. She can tell she’s being told to open her mouth so she does and soon she feels liquid burning down her throat. Startled, her eyelids fly wide open and she sees a golden goblet glimmering against the burning village with red liquid dripping down from it. Minnie tries to close her mouth, but the person behind her slips her fingers into her mouth, holding it open. It’s strange because as she chokes and tries to fight against her perpetrator, the touches and restraints they had, although they seemed violent, they also felt smooth and gentle. It almost put her to ease; it was like they didn’t want to hurt her.

She felt tears running down her cheeks again, but they weren’t hers. The perpetrator was gently stroking her hair and Minnie remembers raising her left hand to wipe their tears away. But as soon as Minnie tried to look up, her vision turned white and every sensation seemed to disappear; she couldn’t feel the tears dripping down onto her face, she couldn’t hear the wails of the villagers, she couldn’t smell the smoke, and she couldn’t taste the smoke anymore.

But after a while, she hears the faintest whisper.

“Ab imo pectore…”

[From the bottom of my heart; with the deepest affection.]

\---

Minnie gasps and sits up, finding herself in her bedroom with the same blue duvet she had slept with yesterday. She starts coughing erratically and she frantically reaches for the glass of water she always keeps next to her bed, but she can’t seem to find it today. The sickly girl tries to call out for her friends, but she can’t get her request across quite clearly through her coughing. So, all that comes out is gurgled gasp. Nonetheless, it seems to work as she can hear the door next to her fly open and the scurried footsteps of one of her roommates racing towards the kitchen. Not even a second later, she hears her door creak open and her other roommate rush towards her aid, patting her back as Minnie coughs with her fists tightening its grip on her bed sheets.

In what seems like ages, but were actually mere seconds, Soyeon enters the room, rushing in with a cup of water. The short girl nearly fumbles and falls over her own feet, but makes it to Minnie in flash, handing her the precious sweet liquid.

Coughing still, Minnie has trouble drinking the water on her own, so her other roommate takes things into her own matter. Yuqi snatches the cup from her hands and tilts her head slightly backwards before carefully dribbling the water into her mouth until Minnie seems to calm down and motions for her to stop.

She sighs in relief and thanks her roommates in a playful tone, “I almost thought I was a goner, what would I do with you guys?”

“Just please be more careful,” Soyeon mutters with a worried look on her face, “You should know by now, you’ve been like this ever since we met you.”

“I will,” Minnie says, remembering that day she met them.

Strangely enough, it wasn’t long after that day she had just dreamed of; she remembers waking up in this very bed of hers to see Yuqi staring at her curiously before her face sparked with pure excitement as she called for Soyeon. Minnie smiles, but a pang of piercing pain strikes her head again and she grimaces.

“You had that nightmare again,” Yuqi deduces, pulling Minnie into her arms to give her a much needed hug, “didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Minnie remarks in frustration, feeling her voice and temper rise, “the very same one.”

“Shh, I know you’ve had it for years,” Soyeon hushes, “But calm down, your head already seems to hurt.”

The older girl nods and she takes a few deep breaths. Soyeon brings her hand up to her forehead, hovering over it slightly and looks at her as if she’s asking Minnie permission to use her power on her. The sickly girl nods again and Soyeon places her hand on her forehead, releasing a cool mask over her, slowly reducing the piercing pain sitting at the top of her head.

“Thank you,” Minnie says and she is finally free of pain, “I’m always grateful that the deities decided to gift you healing abilities.”

“You’re most welcome,” Soyeon informs, “but you know I worked hard to get my healing to this level. Although, a lot of it is just practice from healing you every so often.”

“I’m grateful for it!” Minnie announces, jumping out of her bed and startling her poor friends, “Still, I’m just a little jealous that you can heal and Yuqi can make flames while I’m stuck with such a weirdly impervious temporary state that I can’t even control.”

“Thanks, I know my flames are pretty wicked,” Yuqi boasts and lights a spark that leaves a small twirl of smoke in the air.

“Yuqi, how many times have I told you not to set the house on fire,” Soyeon warns with a frown on her face, though you can tell that there’s this fondness in her eyes when she looks at the younger girl.

“Relax, we got this place re-enchanted last month,” Yuqi reminds them, “I’m sure the roof isn’t going to catch on fire this time.”

Soyeon rolls her eyes while Minnie looks at her with doubt, but what can they do about their younger companion? The bright and cheery girl was too much for them to handle at times, they might as well just let her be and deal with life as it flows. After all, people should enjoy their peace and quiet while they have the chance to.

“Sure,” Soyeon sarcastically replies to the fired-up girl, but she doesn’t forget to turn to Minnie and point out, “Look, we don’t know what your power exactly is, but it’s not like it’s useless. It did save you from that day… maybe you just, you know…”

Minnie gives her a knowing look and affirms, “Yeah, maybe I did forget how to use it like I forgot everything that happened to me before that day.”

The room turns silent and the air in the room turns cold, the three awkwardly stand around, nervously shifting every now and then.

“I’m sorry,” the healer apologizes, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, it’s fine. Thanks for getting me that water and getting rid of that headache,” Minnie reassures with a smile, trying to shake off the sullen atmosphere, “I’m just going to get going now, I have an errand to run.”

The older girl starts to head out the door when she feels a grab her wrist, she looks behind and Yuqi is looking at her with puppy-dog eyes. She knows that look, she’s asking her if she’s sure she’s okay.

“I’ll be fine,” she tries to convince the younger girl, patting her the soft fluffy hair the pyro-user had.

“Are you sure?” the younger girl enquirers and offers, “I’ll go with you if you’d like.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to pick up some medicine from Soojin,” Minnie tells her as she flashes another smile at the two of them, trying to convince them that she’s well enough to go alone.

“Be safe,” Soyeon says, “I’ll be at the mage’s clinic and Yuqi will be at the blacksmith’s shop if you need us.”

Minnie nods and playfully shoos her beloved friends out of her room so that she can get ready for the day. She takes out a box full over colorful blocks and she carefully looks over all of them. Taking a look outside at the blue sky, Minnie decides to not choose from any of the darker blocks. She feels like using one that will make her sparkle, so she decides to use the white block with a couple speckled sparkles. After she puts the box with the rest of the blocks back, she splits the silver speckled white block open and a rush of wind and water swirl around her. She closes her eyes and lets the essence of the white block engulf her, she loves how convenient these magic get-ready-in-a-minute tinkers are. They have to be her favorite product the local bath and beauty shop has produced, she has to thank the helper there for the recommendation. As the magical essence subsides, Minnie feels refreshed and slips into one of her daily robes to embark on her errand for the day.

She grabs her broom and takes lofty steps out onto the cobblestoned streets. Checking that there are no incoming flying witches and wizards nearby, she takes nimble steps before she hops onto her broom and begins to float upwards. She feels a light gust of wind blow past her and ripple through her robe. Humming as she breezes through the air over their small quaint town, she watches over the lively inhabitants. She can see children playing with their wands and stirring up trouble with the little cantrips that they’ve just started learning. There are neighbors and friends who are also going about their day but paused to wave to her as well. She smiles at the mundanity of the precious little town she’s resided in for years and waves back to those who had stopped to wave at her. When she spots Soojin’s tiny corner shop, the wonderful nook and cranny that was hidden at the edge of their town near the calm river that flowed by, Minnie starts to slow her broom speed and gradually descend from the sky.

She does feel a bit airy at first when she lands on the familiar cobblestone road, but she figures it’s just from flying a bit too high today. Contemplating the state of her health, Minnie decides that perhaps it would be better for her to walk back with her medicine instead of flying. And so, as she has solved her worries, she shrugs the thought off and begins to wonder if Soojin has found any new medicine for her today. The medical herbalist has only been in town for several months, just like that soap and beauty shop assistant that works quite nearby, but she has already established her shop as a cornerstone of the village's medicinal needs. Minnie can attest to this as her aliament seems to have slightly improved since she’s gone to the younger witch for medical herbs. Moreover, Minnie also thinks that Soojin has an interesting character; what she means is that, for someone so shy and reserved, she sure does attract a lot of attention from people.

Minnie doesn’t think that’s a bad quality to have, she just really thinks that it’s a peculiar combination of traits to have. When she reaches the entrance of the herb specialist’s shop, she straightens her robe before opening the door. As she enters, the bell hanging on top of the door rings and the blonde haired specialist looks at her with a pleasantly soft smile.

“Welcome back, Minnie,” she welcomes her with an ever so smoothly sweet tone, “How may I help you this week?”

“Hi Soojin!” Minnie enthusiastically greets her as she walks to the counter, “I was wondering if you had anything new to recommend today! And if you don’t, I’ll just take the regular bag of herbs.”

“Let me see,” Soojin replies before she turns her back and starts looking at her catalog of herbs, “Have you had any new symptoms lately or any recent incidents?”

Minnie nervously laughs and admits, “Actually, I woke up coughing just before coming here. It was a bit of a disaster, and I had that dream again.”

“Oh, well you should be more careful,” Soojin warns her, turning back to look at her with some untold concern in her eyes, “You wouldn’t want the devils to take you so soon.”

Her oh-so-valued customer merely nods and tries to assure her that she’ll be just fine but the medicinal herb specialist can hardly believe her. If she is acting so carelessly now, Soojin is sure that her near future won’t be so bright and it certainly won’t be to her liking. People never seem to change, but what can she do? Soojin sighs as she continues browsing through her enchanted scroll and putting together a list of herbs for the sickly girl to take home.

“I’ll be right back,” she notes to her customer before moving to her stockroom to get all the needed herbs.

Minnie sheepishly nods and leans against the counter, seemingly preserving her energy. The blonde hair girl coasts clear from her vision when she slips behind the curtains to her stockroom. She whispers and pierces her fingertip ever so slightly with a silver dagger, letting a single drop of blood fall into the goblet. An image of a beautiful girl with soft brown hair and doll-like skin appears inside of the goblet. She looks at the herbalist expectantly and Soojin tells her everything. The girl then vanishes, leaving not even the faintest vestige that she ever appeared, and Soojin walks out of the backroom with a neatly sorted bag of herbs.

“So I’ve decided to add in some specially enchanted forget-me-nots,” the herbalist suggests, “I think they would be good for your coughing fits. These ones were blessed by both deities, the angels and the devils.”

“Thanks, I will gladly try them out and purchase them at your recommendation,” Minnie says, taking out a few coins to give to the medicinal herb specialist, “I just have a question.”

“Sure, go on,” Soojin encourages her, receiving and depositing the transaction they had just made.

“How did you get the angels and demons to enchant the same thing?” Minnie questions, “They live in different realms and often avoid each other in our mortal world.”

Soojin merely smiles.

“I have my ways,” she informs her, not even bothering to come up with any excuses or any further explanation.

“And so a business woman will never tell her marketing secrets,” Minnie jokingly interjects, taking her bag of medicinal herbs as an exchange for her compensation, “Ah, you’re a smart one.”

“Thank you, I know I am,” Soojin boasts, “Come again?”

“You know I’ll be back next week,” Minnie says as she passes through the door and onto the cobblestone streets once more.

She pauses outside just to check and peers into the bag of herbs to make sure that Soojin didn’t forget anything because she feels like she doesn’t have the energy today to make another trip across town. Curious, she picks up a petal of the forget-me-nots and holds it up. It’s blue color seems to blend into the sky, how calming. Though, there seems to be something descending closer and closer to her, covering her view of the azure blue sky

“Hey,” a girl rapidly landing calls out, “Watch out!”

Minnie flinches, dropping the petal as she tries to move out of the way. But atlas, she is moments too late. And so here comes a random girl, falling from the sky almost, and crashing into her. Whether it happens in slow motion or all too quickly, it doesn’t really matter to Minnie. All she can think of is how beautiful the girl is with such perfectly polished skin—how unfair it is for a person to attain those qualities.

  
She frowns, and feels herself falling while her vision starts to blacken.

“Not this again,” Minnie mutters.


	2. Goblet

And here she is again, waking up under her blue duvet with aching pain in her head. Only this time, when her eyelids flutter open, she sees a girl with a stunningly beautiful girl sitting next to her bed with perfect skin. Minnie furrows her eyebrows, thinking to herself, that the girl seems awfully familiar. She’s sure that she’s seen her before, perhaps, she might have even known her for a while. 

“Who are you,” she groans as she tries to get up, only to wince yet another sting of pain that seems to be coming from her arm.

“Oh you’re awake,” the pretty girl notes, turning around to face her.

Minnie’s eyes widened as she certainly did not expect to see the young girl in her house. On second thought, she should’ve known it was her from her pitch black hair and delicate skin.

“Shuhua!” she exclaims, “What are you doing here?”

The younger girl gives her an apologetic look as she explains, “Well, I kind of ran into you yesterday… literally.”

“Oh,” Minnie responds as she begins to recollect the events of yesterday, “That was definitely a bad day for me.”

“I’m really sorry,” Shuhua apologizes, scratching the back of her head nervously, “is there anything I can do to make up for yesterday?”

“No, you’re fine,” Minnie elaborates, “It’s just that a lot happened yesterday so I’m sorry if I made you a bit worried. And you didn’t even have to stay here and wait for me to wake up, you could’ve apologized later.”

“Still, it didn’t feel right,” Shuhua insists, pouting, “I couldn’t just leave after crashing into you like that.”

“I appreciate it, really,” Minnie tries to persuade her and tries to hide her struggle to sit up in an attempt to appear energized, “See, I’m okay; we’re good.”

“You don’t seem okay,” Shuhua bluntly blurts out.

“Okay, I’m not,” Minnie admits, wincing at the pain she felt after getting up, “But why are you here, don’t you have work to do at the bath and beauty shop?”

Shuhua visibly shrinks in her chair at the mention of the bath and beauty shop. She seems to look down rather awkwardly and her body tenses up, she fumbles with her feet and fiddles her nimble fingers around. The injured girl wonders if she’s accidentally struck the wrong chord. And it seems that she clearly has when Soyeon walks into the room, with Yuqi holding onto one her arms like a tiny imp clutching onto gold, and starts to explain the situation to her.

“Shuhua recently lost her job at the shop being the klutz she is,” Soyeon explains, in which Shuhua flashes a glare at her and looks like she’s on the edge of picking a fight with her, “So she’s currently in training to become an intern at the mage’s clinic that I am an assistant at. Although, I doubt she’ll make it with how she’s been lately.”

If stares could kill, the clumsy girl definitely would have beheaded Soyeon by now. Her grip on the edge of her chair has visibly tightened and her eyebrows nearly twitched into an arch. The murderous intent is so thick that one would think that they could cut through it with a scissor. Song Yuqi, though a trickster by nature who normally loves to push the buttons of her friends and acquaintances, absolutely hates atmospheres like this. It brings her great discomfort whenever there is any serious form of conflict because what Yuqi likes the most is to have a fun time and this was certainly not a good time.

So the trickster does what she thought was best and decides to pull a little prank. She knows that maybe it’s not the best time, but she doesn’t like it when Soyeon is like this. And so the girl sets tiny flames between the two witches that are on the brink of dueling it out right in their precious little home. 

“Let’s not add gas to the fire!” Yuqi cheerfully quips, receiving glares from both of the mage clinic hires.

But thankfully Minnie bursts out laughing, she always appreciates how Yuqi lightens up the situation (figuratively, not literally; definitely not literally because that has always been a disaster). Not being able to help herself because of how infectious and bright the injured girl’s laughter was, Shuhua and Soyeon burst into giggles as well. Soyeon curses between her laughs and Shuhua, like the strange child she is, giggles maniacally.

“Everyone, I’m just here to apologize and try to make things up,” Shuhua tries to bring to their attention as she struggles to catch her breath again, “Nothing more, nothing less.”

The three roommates eventually catch their composure again and nod, acknowledging the youngest girl’s intent. Soyeon, though still irritated by the girl, also simply grumbles something under her breath, seemingly accepting the situation but adamantly refusing to apologize for earlier. 

Yuqi quickly picks up the slack of her beloved roommate’s stubbornness and makes an offer to their visitor, “Forgive, Soyeon; she’s just feeling slightly grumpy today. And perhaps you can help us around with the stuff we need to do, if you think that would be a proper exchange for Minnie’s troubles.”

Shuhua’s demeanor seems to brighten up a bit and she readily accepts, “Of course, I don’t mind! I’ll be happy to help… if Minnie is okay with that.”

“I think that’s a suitable price to pay,” Minnie agrees, smiling at the plan that Yuqi has set out.

“Well that’s set!” Shuhua merrily declares and hands Minnie a tiny whistle, “Just blow the whistle when you need me, it’ll send a magical message to me, letting me know when you need my help. Oh, and by the way, I left your herbs on the table and made sure with the really _ pretty _ and  _ nice _ lady at the shop that nothing was missing.”

The older girl thanks Shuhua as she bids her and Yuqi farewell, ignoring Soyeon entirely as she silently bits her lips and fumes in the corner. Their beloved visitor then frolics out of the door, as though it was totally normal so the others don’t question it. But she doesn’t forget to tell Minnie to rest more before she completely disappears from their view.

‘What a peculiar child,’ Minnie thinks to herself as she lays on her bed to rest again. 

She hasn’t been feeling her best lately and with this incident suddenly playing out, she certainly thinks her body needs a good rest. After persuading her roommates to leave her room and that she’ll be fine, a common and regular activity in her daily life, she slips into deep slumber once more.

Shuhua, on the other hand, as soon as she’s sure that no one can see her anymore, snaps her fingers and vanishes from the mortal world. Now she is in the realm of angels, standing before the steps up to the throne of the archangel. She waits patiently, peering up at the tall ionic columns that held up the temple of angels. Everything was so perfectly polished and made, it pleased Shuhua to see how everything was so well fit every time she reported back to the realm of angels. However, a glimmer of gold catches Shuhua’s attention, there’s a goblet sitting on the marbled table next to the throne. Although angels are no stranger to gold, as they often wear gold embroidered gowns, she finds it strange that the archangel would leave an empty goblet right there. She likes to keep her space simple and clean, so it seems strange to Shuhua that the woman would misplace her treasured goblet.

“Shuhua,” a voice echoes through the room, “What brings you here today?”

The young angel looks to her side and sees the archangel walking towards her in the distance. With deep respect, see bows her head to the leader as she strides over to take her throne. The older angel simply waves it off, telling her to raise her head and go on with whatever she has to report.

“I’m here today to report on Minnie again,” Shuhua tells her.

Miyeon’s eyes soften at the mention of the name, there’s this sense of fondness and sorrow she has attached to it. 

“Go on,” Miyeon softly commands the younger angel.

Feeling a bit sympathetic, Shuhua gives Miyeon a sullen look before breaking the news, “Her accursed illness seems to have worsened and there’s something really strange that’s happened today Miyeon.”

“And that is?” Miyeon inquires, raising an eyebrow.

Shuhua shuffles her feet and hesitantly continues to report, “Well, she has the scent of the devil on her again and her roommates are strange. I can barely sense the mortality in one of them, the short one named ‘Soyeon’ scares me. She claims that the deities, either one of us or the devils, gifted her the magic of healing at her birth but that happens so rarely.”

“Indeed,” Miyeon agrees, sinking back against her throne as if she’s in deep thought, “it is rare that we gift a mortal such an ability.”

“I’m quite suspicious,” Shuhua explains, “that she is also slowly stealing bits and bits of Minnie’s life away.”

“Are you insinuating that she is a devil?” Miyeon enquires, clasping her hands together.

The younger feels pressure as the archangel sees to be staring at her with piercing eyes. She feels almost as though Miyeon might rip her soul out and throw it away, pulling it out from heaven's gate and throwing it to the depths of hell. She takes bites her lips and she nods ever so slightly; she doesn’t dare pull her eyes away from the woman staring at her.

“Are you sure?” Miyeon whispers as she leans forwards towards Shuhua, stopping inches in front of her ear.

Shuhua stammers, feeling shivers run down her spine, “No, but I’ve given Minnie a bell if she needs help and to keep a closer eye on her.”

“Very well,” Miyeon accepts and leans back on her marble throne, “You may return to the mortals for now, I’ll see you soon.”

“What do you mean?” the young angel questions.

The archangel doesn’t answer. Instead, she picks up her golden goblet and starts to walk away from the other angel. 

As she dislikes being ignored, the ill-tempered angel mutters with frustration, “She should at least give me a response.”

Miyeon pauses abruptly, interrupting her gait, purposefully letting Shuhua know that she had heard what she said. Yet, she does not look back nor does she give her the pleasure of a response. She merely continues walking after a few seconds before snapping her fingers to teleport herself out of the temple and into her beloved little paradise. Miyeon sighs as soon as she arrives on her comfy wooden porch of her secret house, she looks over into the distance and marvels at the flowers following the flow of the billowing wind. There are no clouds today, just the way she likes it, and everything sounds so serene. The sound of shifting leaves and tiny critters fill the clean fresh air, and Miyeon smiles to herself.

She sets down the golden goblet and whispers a few soft words that filled it with rich red liquid. Bringing up to her lips, she takes a ship of it and lets the flavor fill her mouth. She wonders if she had made the wrong decision though, to make Shuhua an angel. The girl and her filthy mouth would have certainly made for a very good little devil—that is, very bad. The archangel shakes her head, it’s not like she can do anything about it now that all the angels in the realm have accepted her as their own. That decision was already made. Miyeon frowns, the sweet nectar she was drinking seconds ago started to leave a sour taste in her mouth. 

Looking down into her goblet, swishing the liquid ever so slightly, she sees the blonde girl again. This time, she is not looking at her though, instead she looks slightly disturbed as a familiar pale skinned angel is uncomfortably close to her. Miyeon feels her blood starting to boil and tosses the goblet across the green fields in front of her humble cottage. The red liquid splashes over as the cup soars above the fields, clashing against the blue of the sky. When the droplets of the red liquid eventually reach the ground, upon touch, grass and flowers wither and break apart into black ashes. The goblet though, rests unscathed and unstained, as it has always been.

“Yeh Shuhua,” Miyeon hisses, “Not only are you incompetent at your job, but now you’re getting in Soojin’s way.”

It is then when the sky turns grey and an angry rumble of thunder can be heard in the distance. Not too soon later, rain starts to pour down from the sky, loudly splattering against any surface it touches. Miyeon tries to calm her rage but it is to no avail, it looks like mortals will be having rather dreary weather for the rest of the day. She’s rather fond of her cottage in the mortal world and is not in the mood to depart from it, and she does have business to handle here after all.

\---

Minnie wakes up to a flash of lightning that seemed to appear just outside of her window. She definitely feels better than she had earlier after a nice restful sleep but she still feels a bit weakened. Perhaps, she had caught a cold; that would explain why she hasn’t been feeling the best recently. Regardless of what it is, Minnie was absolutely ravenous and parched, her stomach growled like the hungry beast it was and her scratchy throat was desperate for even a drop of water. It has been a long time since she has eaten or drunken water due to her prolonged slumber.

After she rises out of her bed, she immediately makes her way towards the kitchen. She pours herself a hot cup of water and decides to make herself some stew. Recalling that she is unwell and Soojin had recommended her to try the forget me notes, she decides to go fetch her bag of herbs. Having retrieved her herbs, Minnie decides to drop a few dried petals into her cup of hot water. She looks curiously at the cup of water as it turns a riveting deep red.

“That’s a strange shade,” Soyeon points out as she walks by, “I would’ve never thought that blue petals would turn your water red.”

“Yeah,” Yuqi agrees, care-freely following Soyeon into the kitchen like a lost puppy.

“It is quite strange now that you guys mention it,” Minnie acknowledges, “But I trust Soojin.” 

Soyeon shrugs and she simply comments, “I don’t know her well, but she seems to have been helping you medically for the last few months so I have no objections to you trying that. It’s just not like anything I’ve seen before.”

“Can’t never hurt to try, right?” Minnie nonchalantly remarks, bringing the drink up to her lips.

She takes a sip and instantly a sweet flavor seems to completely take over her mouth. There’s the light airiness to it, yet there’s this tastefulness to it as well. It didn’t feel as though it was too much or too little, it was a complete sort of flavor. Minnie feels refreshed and takes another sip, closing her eyes she feels all the remaining aching pains in her body melt away. And as she tries to savor the flavor, she swears she sees a woman in a white dress flash before her. The figure seems to be the same girl from her dreams; she seems to be holding a golden goblet in her hand, ready to throw it away. But before Minnie can see what the mysteriously familiar woman does, she comes back into reality.

“Minnie,” Yuqi calls to her, “Can you hear me? Minnie?”

The daydreaming girl snaps out of her vision and response with a hint of confusion in her voice, “Yes? What were you saying?”

Yuqi pouts, probably disappointed and slightly hurt from being ignored, and informs her, “I was asking you if you would like for me to heat up some dragon sirloin stew, we made some for you earlier but didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Oh, I would love to, thank you,” Minnie thanks her, “I was just a little bit absorbed by the taste of the new herbs Soojin suggested.”

“I know,” Yuqi says, “You finished it so quickly and you looked like you were in bliss!”

Unaware that she had finished the drink already, Minnie looked down at her cup to find it empty. She thought she had only taken a couple of sips; in fact, she was quite sure that she had only had half of the cup at most. Yet, there was not a single drop of the red liquid left in her cup. Had it been that good that she had absently finished it in the midst of her daydream? She shakes her head and looks up to ask Soyeon for advice, but she isn’t there anymore.

“Yuqi,” Minnie gains her attention by grabbing on to her arm and asking, “Where did Soyeon go?”

“What do you mean?” Yuqi says with concern laced into her voice, “You waved goodbye to her when she said she had an emergency at the clinic and needed to be there as soon as possible.”

“Did I?” Minnie questions herself, rubbing her chin, “Maybe I’m still out of it.”

Yuqi puts a hand on her shoulder, and in an attempt to comfort her, she tells her that it'll be okay.

“Don’t worry about if for now, just rest,” Yuqi coos, “I’ll tell the magical musicians store that you’ll be taking a few days off and ask Soyeon to check in with Soojin if the new herb she gave you has any side effects.”

“Thank you,” Minnie murmurs.

“Of course,” Yuqi beams and starts to warm up the stew for Minnie.

Meanwhile, Minnie sits there in a daze and starts to feel a sour taste creep up her tongue. She then hears the distant sound of metal clashing against the floor, but Yuqi has not dropped anything. Befuddled, the dazed girl sits there in silence and starts to wonder if she’s going insane.

And in moments, her throat feels like it’s burning.

A bitter acrid taste is left lingering on the tip of her tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably aiming for weeklyish updates, can't promise much because of exams.
> 
> p.s. can someone write me one shot of that moment on twitter where miyeon said she slept next to minnie in minnie's bed once because she was bored, thank you very much


	3. Ab Imo Pectore

The doorbell rings and Soojin cannot help but sigh in slight annoyance. Ever since the last time Minnie has visited her, a pesky little angel in disguise has been bothering her with her presence in unannounced and unwelcome appearances. At least it isn’t raining anymore though, the weather has been tough for the last few days. When Soojin finally turns her to the door, she is met with surprise, the customer she had was someone she had not seen in a while.

“How unexpected,” Soojin remarks, “What brings you here today, my dear?”

“Minnie,” the short girl answers, “Yuqi, our other roommate, said that Minnie seemed a bit confused after consuming the enchanted forget-me-nots you had recommended.”   


“Is that so,” Soojin articulates, “Can you explain to me what type of symptoms she experienced, she’s a rather troublesome case as I have no idea what illness she has.”

“Tell me about it,” Soyeon explains, “It actually happened two days ago so I’m not really sure of the symptoms, an emergency popped up at the clinic so I could not come to you earlier.”

“That’s alright, I’m rather well versed in my field so I’ll do my best to help you with whatever information you have,” Soojin assured the other girl.

“Well,” Soyeon begins, “She’s been forgetting a few things that happened right in front of her moments ago and she says she’s been hearing and seeing things that simply aren’t there.”

“Is that all?” Soojin inquires with curiosity, “Can you tell about what she’s seen and heard?”

“I mean, she also described a sour taste, but I think that’s besides the fact of the matter,” Soyeon elaborates, “She’s said she’s seeing and hearing things that involve this golden goblet. But I’m not sure if all this is because of your herbs or if it’s because of the concussion she had because of that meddling intern in training at the clinic.”

“Shuhua?” Soojin interjects, “The girl who crashed into her in front of my shop?”

Just as Soyeon is about to confirm Soojin’s statement, the doorbell chimes and the girl in question frolics her way in. The big goofy grin she wore on her face, however, soon turned into almost an expression of grimace when she sees that Soyeon is also present. Although she has become more acquainted with the short statured witch as she is fulfilling her promise in aiding Minnie when called for, she remains displeased and suspicious of Soyeon’s presence. Uneasiness is the best word Shuhua has to describe how she feels around the mortal.

“Hi Soojin!” Shuhua exclaims with excitement, waving at her with a beaming smile and eyes shaped into crescent moons.

“Speak of the devil,” Soyeon mutters under her breath.

The new visitor turns to Soyeon and almost sneers, “That’s funny coming from you.”

“Now now children,” Soojin tries to make peace between the two, “Let’s not talk about the deities here, I’m sure that none of you are devils.”

The clinic assistant raises her eyebrow at the statement, as she wonders how the herbal specialist would be able to differentiate deities from mortals. As far as Soyeon is concerned, mortals like herself, never find out when the deities are among them. Nonetheless, she decides to let the thought go as she is eager to hear Soojin’s thoughts on what might be wrong with Minnie.

“So, what do you think?” Soyeon redirects the conversation back to the topic that they were on before the new ‘customer’ intruded, “Minnie has had weird dreams related to the things she’s been hallucinating too if that helps you figure anything out.”

“I think it’s probably temporary side effects,” Soojin concludes, with an air of calmness around her, “There’s really nothing to worry about though, her body just needs time to adapt and get used to it.”

“You think so? Is there anything else that I should do since I am a healing mage,” Soyeon probes.

Soojin pauses to think for a second before she suggests, “Perhaps I should pay her a visit to make sure that is all, would that be alright with you?”

“Sure,” the medical mage accepts her invitation, “When would be a good time for you?”

“Would later today work for you, the shop shouldn’t be busy during the night,” the herbal specialist proposes.

“That should be okay,” Soyeon confirms, “then I’ll see you then, I have a shift at the clinic so I must get going.”

“A pleasure speaking with you, have a safe journey there,” Soojin bids farewell to the medical mage and then turns her attention to the young angel waiting in the corner.

She feels the exhaustion pile onto her as she watches her visitor’s eyes light up with joy. 

‘Ah, here we go again,’ Soojin thinks to herself, but it’s not like she absolutely hates it when she sees the foolish girl. She finds it rather amusing, it’s just that she can be a handful at times.

\---

Sitting on the enchanted rocking chair, that swings back and forth according to the mood of its user, Minnie is huddled in a blanket and abysmally bored. She knows that she should rest but she is itching to go on a stroll, she hasn’t had a breath of fresh air ever since her unfortunately timed accident with Shuhua. As Soyeon should be at the clinic and Yuqi has slipped out for a short errand for the blacksmith shop, she wonders if she can sneak out for a bit. She figures that it won’t do her any harm to go out for a walk; besides, she is convinced that the fresh air will help her. For the love of the angels, she surely misses going outside.

So, without waiting another minute, Minnie is on her feet and ready to sneak out the back door. She slips on a robe before she slips through the door and makes her way to the main road. Happy with her success, she adds joyful bounces to her steps as she starts to stroll down the streets. She finally feels a bit of normalcy come back to her after spending days inside, falling in and out sleep with weird dreams consuming her mind. On second thought, they might be considered nightmares considering how distressed they made her.

As she enjoys her leisurely adventure around her neighborhood Minnie takes pleasure in greeting the local cats. Although the creatures can only talk to telepathy witches and wizards, as language does not matter across the translation of thoughts, she was always fond of the cute creatures. Likewise, the cats joyfully purred at her, as if greeting, when she walked by. Minnie likes to think that they too enjoy her presence and are happy to see her; she takes a moment to smile at that thought before continuing on her walk. She is shortly interrupted again though by a familiar stranger.

“They say that they’re glad to see you after a long while,” a soft voice surprises her, conveying the thoughts of the cats to her.

Turning to face the owner of the voice, Minnie finds herself in front of a stunningly gorgeous woman who she has never seen in this town before. Yet there was something about her doll-like features and perfectly styled brown hair that she found familiar. It was like she has known her for years but she remembers nothing of it.

“That’s nice to know, thank you! Are you new to town by the way, I’ve never seen you before? I’m Minnie!” Minnie cheerfully greets the familiar stranger.

“Yes,” the beautiful girl responds, brushing back her hair which makes the other girl’s heart beat a tiny bit faster, “I’m Miyeon.”

“It’s nice to have you in town, Miyeon,” Minnie warmly welcomes, a bit flustered, “What brings you here?”

“This and that, mostly my friend needing some help,” the newcomer explains, “I’m quite an expert on herbs.”

“I thought you were a telepath since you knew what the cats were saying?” Minnie questions, “Only the deities possess more than one ability.”

Miyeon giggles and all Minnie can think of is how pretty she looks when she smiles. In fact, she wouldn't mind watching the other girl laugh for another few hours. She probably also wouldn’t even mind just staring at her for a couple of hours.

“I’m a woman of many talents,” Miyeon explains, “But yes, I am a telepath but I’m also well versed in herbs as I spend a lot of time in the forest with animals.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Minnie accepts her explanation without any hesitation, “By chance, do you know Seo Soojin?”

“Of course, she is the friend that I will be helping,” the telepath replies with some shock and gasps, “Has she said something about me?”

“No, not that I’ve heard of. I was just curious since you said you were going to help your friend with herbs and she’s the best medicinal herb shop owner in town,” Minnie elaborates, trying to calm her down.

“I see,” Miyeon says, “It’s good to hear that she’s doing such a good job then. Well, I’ll see you around then.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Minnie rejoiced, as she enjoyed the little chat they had.

After parting ways with the new resident in town, Minnie notices that the sun is starting to descend. So she decides that she should head back to her house before Yuqi and Soyeon find out that she has snuck out. She’s rather satisfied with her endeavors, having become acquainted with someone new and, more importantly, so beautiful and kind-natured. Quietly coming across her humble home again, Minnie tip toes to the back of the house. She slowly creaks open the back door and slips through. Taking off her common robe, she flings it into the magic wardrobe that immediately brings the robe back to where it was before she had left the house.

Everything was as is before she went on the little walk, or so she thought. 

Settling down on the couch, Minnie wraps herself in her soft cotton blanket and waits for her roommates’ returns. She looks at the clock, watching time pass one tic and toc at a time. The longer she waits, the sleepier the girl feels as she’s cuddled up in the warm and fuzzy layers of fabric. In what seems like ages, the front door slams right open and in steps her ever so cheerful companion. The newly arrived resident is covered with spots of black coal smudged on her arms and face. Her hair is somewhat affray and dusty as well, but she seemed as joyful as usual.

“Hi Minnie, how was your stay home today?” Yuqi asks, popping a cleansing block open to get rid of the dirt all over her body, “I had a great day at work!”

Pushing back her drowsy state, Minnie perks up and exclaims, “You know the usual, just lying around, I think I’ve basically fully recovered and can go back to work tomorrow. Man, I miss the music shop!”

“That’s good to hear,” Yuqi smiles, and ponders, “I can only imagine how bored I would be if I couldn’t do blacksmithing for a few days. I’d miss polishing and firing up all those daggers, maces, quarterstaffs, and all of that stuff—heck, I’d even miss making shields.”

Minnie laughs at the younger girl's remarks and points out, “Did Soyeon tell you if she’d be late today? She’s usually here by now.”

The younger girl shrugs her shoulder and predicts, “She probably got caught up in another emergency or something at the clinic.”

When the homestay girl is about to agree with her, they hear a light knock rapping against the door. Not expecting any guests, the two roommates look at eachother with slight confusion. Cautiously, the younger of the two turns the knob slightly to take a glimpse of who it might be and she is met with confusion when see she’s their other roommate with three other visitors. She is familiar with two of them as Shuhua has been around helping about and Soojin is someone everyone in town is acquainted with due to her herbal expertise, but she has never seen the other girl before.

“Soyeon,” Yuqi addresses her beloved roommate, “Care to tell us why these people are here?”

Before the clinic assistant can reply she is interrupted by the loud rambunctious voice of Shuhua announces, “Soojin is here to check up on Minnie and since I like Soojin, and share fault in the current situation, so I’m here!”

Seemingly exhausted, Soyeon merely seems to nod and introduces the new friend in town, “And this is Miyeon, she’s Soojin’s friend who knows a little bit about medical herbs as well.”

“Nice to meet you and welcome to our humble abode everyone!” Yuqi boisterously greets, opening the door fully for their guests to come in.

As the three guests make their way in with Soyeon trailing behind, Minnie kindly welcomes each and every one of them. Though she was not expecting company, she was more than happy to be in their presence. However, her eyes lock with Miyeon, who she had met moments before and she is suddenly filled with anxiety. The home-bound mage hopes she doesn’t bring up the fact that they had met just a bit ago and is able to keep it a little secret between just the two of them. 

Avoiding eye contact with Miyeon, Minnie quietly stays in the warmth of her corner on the couch as the other five start to get settled. Soyeon, who is exceedingly tired today, merely takes a seat quietly on the sofa, trying to recharge her energy while Yuqi attends to her. And the other three? Well, Shuhua desperately tries to cling to the herbal specialist but is met with disappointment as the new girl in town takes a seat next to her. The young and clumsy angel huffs, but she cannot defy her leader so she is forced to make do. After they have all settled down in the living room and gathered some composure amongst themselves, it is Soojin who breaks the silence in the room and asks Minnie how she has been.

“I’ve heard that your body is having trouble adjusting to the new medicine,” Soojin eloquently articulates, “How are you doing now, have the symptoms worsened?”

“Yes, I’ve been experiencing some strange hallucinations these last few days but I’ve recovered for the most part after staying home all the time,” Minnie reports, emphasizing the last part as she throws a quick glance at Miyeon.

When their eyes meet momentarily, Miyeon makes sure to give the worried witch a knowing smile so that she knows her secret is safe with her. The conversation soon progresses and Soojin confirms her suspicions that the sickly witch’s body was only having trouble adapting to the new medication. Miyeon observes the girl’s roommates sigh in relief and Shuhua has a smile perked up on her face. She thinks of how easy it is to fool mortals and almost chuckles to herself. 

“Miyeon,” Soojin brings up, “What do you think about her condition, do you think that there may be something wrong with my hypothesis.”

“No, I think you’re spot on,” Miyeon jests, “I wonder why you even called me into town when you’re able to come up with a resolution on your own.”

Soojin forces herself to laugh, with dry sarcasm she responds, “Yes, why would I call you here without any reason whatsoever?”

Sensing tension in the room, Yuqi almost breaks into a state of panic while her mind scrambles to find some way to relieve the situation. Luckily, Shuhua has something in her mind as she looks curiously upon the relationship between her angel mentor and her recently acquainted crush.

“How do you two know each other,” the young angel inquires at the two of them.

Not knowing what to say, the herbal specialist nudges the ‘archangel’, signaling for her to come up with something. 

With no sense of panic or hesitation visible, Miyeon reveals, “We’ve crossed paths many years ago in one of the worship temples of some faraway town. As fellow travelers, we decided to keep in contact every now and then.”

Shuhua seems to accept the answer readily and the conversation soon shifts to topics of mundane triviality. The girls enjoy their time together, chatting about random topics and making occasional jokes. Minnie notices that Miyeon and Soojin remain rather quiet for the time being though, they give off the feeling that they’re scheming something. She doesn’t think too much of it as she is aware of Soojin’s shy nature, maybe Miyeon is like that too; birds of the same feather do flock together after all.

As the night goes on the girls start to depart one by one, leaving the three girls to wrap up their day. Strangely, Miyeon is the last one to leave even though they’ve known her the last. Perhaps that statement in itself explains why she was last to leave; there was merely more to ask about her than the other two. In conclusion, one should never underestimate Yuqi’s curiosity or Soyeon’s myriad of questions about medical magic. Minnie doesn’t mind Miyeon’s prolonged visitation though, she finds herself comforted in her presence. See feels safe when she’s there—she can’t seem to find a reason for why she feels like that but it’s like she’s known her for years. When it is time to say farewell again, Miyeon asks for a bit of her time alone. So, here they are, face to face, with Miyeon standing outside of her house with the moonlight gleaming on her face. Her skin reflects the silvery light and her eyes seem to glow in the midst of the darkening day; Minnie is awestruck.

“Are you done staring?” the angel-like girl playfully jokes, “it’s getting rather cold outside.”

Minnie snaps out of it scrambles over her words to apologize, “I’m sorry, you’re really pretty and… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Miyeon laughs, and Minnie’s can feel her heart swoon again, “I just wanted to let you know that I won’t tell your friends about your secret little stroll earlier.”

The flustered girl sheepishly responds, “Thank you, it was just getting a little suffocating always staying home.”

“I can imagine,” the newcomer in town sympathizes, “If you would like, I can keep you company on your secret adventures.”

Minnie’s eyes seem to light up and almost too exuberantly accepts, “I would love for you to join! I mean, it’s not like I’ll have to sneak out anymore, it was just that one time.”

“Sure little Miss troublemaker,” Miyeon teasingly implies, “I’ll be seeing you soon then.”

“Wonderful,” Minnie says, “but how will you find me on these walks?”

“I have my ways,” she assures her with an air of mystery in her voice

The devilishly beautiful woman then turns around and departs from her house. Minnie calls out to her to ask what exactly she means, and she sees her soft lips whisper something. However, Miyeon is too far for Minnie to hear the three little words that fell from her lips.

“Ab imo pectore,” Miyeon repeats again, when she turns around and watches Minnie shut the door to her home.

[From the bottom of my heart; with the deepest affection.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I really look forward to posting the chapter for the next update :) also happy 2 years with (g)i-dle, I truly love them from the depths my heart


	4. Red

Miyeon remembers it like it was yesterday.

The smell of burning flesh and a chorus of screams filled the air; the best way to describe it was it was as if a disorientating orchestra playing the wrong version of a song at an obscure public execution. Miyeon’s heart burned with sadness and her mind hummed with madness as she listened to the cacophony coming out of the village. Spreading her white wings, she sores over the village as she watches the events unfold. It was the same among the old or the young; the sick or the healthy; the weak and the strong; the beloved and the despised. They were all in pain.

Death has no favorites.

As an angel, she knows this very well; and as a devil, she knows it even better.

She wonders how the deities will handle this tragedy, neither of them had planned for this after all. Staring down at the town, searching for someone, her eyes turn as red as the flames wreaking havoc through homes. And when she finally finds the one she is looking for, she feels a piercing pain prickling her chest, like tiny needles are pressing against her skin. She feels a teardrop fall from her cheeks because she knows that there is nothing she can do now.

Miyeon had loved, was in love with, and will always love Minnie.

She watches her beloved from above and it shatters her heart into millions of pieces. Minnie was covered in mud with tears and blood dripping from services of her poor angelic face. She was crying out in agony, pain, and frustration and she was laughing at how much of a joke her life had become in the end. Miyeon finds herself floating down as she watches her lover's eyes start to lose focus. When she is finally by her side, Minnie takes a while to notice, closing and opening her eyes, trying to stay awake.

“You’re just like an angel,” her lover softly mutters to her.

Miyeon wants to burst into tears then because she knows her lover cannot recognize her. Turning away, she tries to gain a sense of control over her emotions but she breaks when she sees Minnie wince in pain. Miyeon moves behind her and lifts her head carefully and lays it on her in an attempt to give her even the slightest bit of comfort. Snapping her fingers, she feels the weight of her golden goblet in her left hand.

“Open your mouth,” Miyeon softly tells her.

And so Minnie does and Miyeon holds the goblet up right above her precious one’s face. She hesitates for a second but then she tilts the golden goblet and lets the red liquid from it drip. In moments, she watches Minnie eyes fly wide open and immediately realize what’s happening. Trying to look up at her the angel who she had fallen in love with and the devil she had grown to know, Minnie tried to close her mouth. But Miyeon, puts her fingers in her mouth and holds it open, pressing against her teeth and tongue.

“I know you don’t want to forget, but you have to,” Miyeon begs her, stroking her cheek with the fingers she wasn’t using to hold her mouth open, “Please, it’s the only way.”

Minnie tries to say something but the liquid pouring down her throat drowns the sound out and causes her to choke. Minnie’s eyes glaze over for a few seconds and Miyeon lifts the golden goblet to take a sip of the deep red concoction to complete the spell. It is then when the girl who connects the realm of the angel and devils, who has seen the deaths of many, can no longer hold the tears in her eyes. She silently lets it fall as she runs her fingers through her beloved’s hair for one last time before she completely forgets her.

“Ab imo pectore,” she whispers to her with trembles vibrating through her voice, “I will love you forever.”

[From the bottom of my heart; with the deepest affection.]

When Miyeon feels Minnie's body grow limp, she knows it is time to depart. She knows that she will have to face divine punishment for what she has done as Minnie should not be able to live as a mortal again. But what of it? For the angel who was also accursed with the responsibilities of a devil, it hurt her more to watch her beloved suffer.

As she ascends upwards, she watches brilliant red flames come closer to the unconscious girl. She sees the flames try to scorch against her skin and consume her but to no avail. Angels and devils, even the fallen ones, are invulnerable after all.

\---

In her house on the hill, Miyeon sips a deep maroon liquid out of her golden goblets while she’s sitting across Soojin. The archangel’s eyes are pure white, though they are quite mesmerizing, the devil disguised as an herbal specialist thinks that they’re quite desolate. This is simply another way for her to say that they’re quite empty—that if eyes are the window to the soul, Miyeon seems to have lost hers. Having known the archangel for decades now, the devil observes that even though Miyeon has lost her humanity and divine love for many years, she has never seen her so distraught. Though it is important to note, that in the recent decade, there were several years in which the archangel was rarely seen by anyone in that time period. 

“So how was it?” Soojin hesitantly starts the conversation, “Seeing her for the first time in a while?”

As she is sitting across from her, the devil can see the red seeping in and out of the other girl’s irises. It was like they were pulsing with pain. 

“It was nice,” Miyeon comments.

“I see,” Soojin notes the unpleasant atmosphere and decides to change the subject, “I have been meaning to ask, but is Shuhua a new angel? How much time does she have?”

“Yes, the child is new,” Miyeon explains, “She has a few years and if she’s successful, her soul will be sent to live another life as a mortal again.”

“What if she’s not,” Soojin playfully asks.

The accursed archangel stares into her eyes and responds, “You know very well what would happen Miss Devil. You’ve been through it yourself; angels that fail must live as devils forever.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Soojin cautiously replies, “I apologize.”

“Don’t ever let Shuhua know that you’re a devil,” Miyeon warns her, “Angels must never know that devils are former angels, or they will lose their chance then and have failed.”

“Right, but don’t forget,” Soojin reminds her, “that Shuhua can never know who you are too or she will have fallen.”

“Of course,” Miyeon assures her and sets her goblet down, “How could I ever forget?”

At the last comment, Miyeon’s tone turns sharp and feels as if it is riddled with bitter memories. The devil doesn’t dare answer her now, she is too frightened by the wrath she senses from the accursed angel. She instead quickly dismisses herself, saying that she should attend to her shop now or the mortals would be alarmed. Miyeon doesn’t bother trying to keep her in her company and lets her scurry off as she wishes. Besides, she had other plans for the day, like finding out where her beloved was and ‘coincidentally’ bumping into her. Contemplating on how she should go about this, Miyeon leans back on her chair and stares into blank space for a while. She wonders what she should do, she wonders what she should say to her.

For a half second, a small smile appears on Miyeon’s lips and all the red in her eyes fades away. She thinks of how nice it would be to see her smile again after so long. Even if Minnie doesn’t remember her anymore, even if they could never as they were before, she’s sure that her smiling face is still as sweet as can be. Minnie will forever be Miyeon’s apple of her eye.

But the sour taste left in her mouth with a tinge of burnt bitterness shook her out her fantasy. Miyeon had to remember that things would not all be well even if Minnie did not know who she was anymore. She knows that the heart of all divine had other plans for the two of them and that she must carry out this divine punishment even if she wishes for something else. The accursed angel lets out a deep breath, she remains at rest on her chair. 

She watches the wind blow through the air and listens to the sound of rustling grass, she imagines how nice it would be if the two of them could live here forever in peace. Side by side, hand in hand, they would be together in serenity as they watched the days pass. What may seem like forever to others would pass by in what seemed like seconds to them because it was always fun when she was with her.

It was a dream that she knew would never happen because she was living in the midst of a nightmare.

The blue cube, the heart of all divine, that lies in the midst of the high skies of heaven that also appeared buried in the depths of hell had already decided their fate and there was nothing she could do. As much as Miyeon was glad that she was sent to see her beloved again, she knows that nothing good could come out of it for them. She always has a shadow of doubt following behind her, almost like it is waiting to engulf her at any second.

Miyeon knows that their time is limited.

As much as she wishes to see the girl, she is hesitant because of the lingering fear always trailing behind her. But, what has to be done will be done whether she approves of it or not. So, while she has the chance, she should cherish every last second of it. All good things come to an end, but what about the bad? Well, Miyeon doesn’t want to think of that quite yet so she decides to shake off her thoughts.

On today’s agenda she was supposed to meet Minnie regardless of the consequences or benefits that might come along with it. It was part of her mission, the absolute word of the root of all deities. Like Shuhua must obey her commands, Miyeon must obey theirs. Speaking of which, she snaps her fingers and calls for Shuhua who doesn’t take too long before apprating into her humble cottage house.

“You called,” the innocent angel pops her head in.

“Yes,” Miyeon responds, “So the bell still works right?”

“Of course,” Shuhua tells her, “Minnie’s still ringing it occasionally when she feels ill, but she seems to be getting better these days.”

“That’s nice to hear,” Miyeon smiles, “And it’s also nice to see that you’re finally taking your job seriously.”

“I’ve always been taking my job seriously!” the young angel shouts.

Lightly laughing, the older girl ruffles the younger girl’s hair and neither denies nor affirms her claim. 

Shuhua pouts and moves away from her grasp, and declares, “Head-patting is reserved for my JinJin only.”

“Your JinJin?” Miyeon quirks an eyebrow and repeats with curiosity.

“Yeah, only Soojin can pat my head,” the younger girl reiterates.

The archangel puts her hands up, admitting defeat, and decides to change the subject, “Okay, I won’t bother you anymore but can you tell me where Minnie is right now?”

Shuhua seems to rejoice as a foolish grin is plastered on her face, she shakes the golden bell as if she is celebrating her little victory. The angel who is also a devil merely chuckles at the child’s petty antics and remains unfazed.

“Well,” the older girl points out, staring at her intensely with an unfaltering gaze and wicked smile, “Are you going to tell me or not?”

The delight on Shuhua’s face seems to fade and she quickly tells Miyeon what she knows, “According to the bell, Minnie should be back at work at the magical musician’s store right by her humble abode. Her shift should be ending in not too long as well if you’re planning to do anything.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard was it? You may go now,” Miyeon dismisses her and the young angel backs away with some semblance of uncertainty in her eyes.

And then, after a few seconds of hesitation, the young angel apparates out of the cottage and Miyeon sighs. She wonders if she had been too harsh on her fellow deities today, but she thinks that they should be fine. It wouldn’t be a wild guess that Shuhua was running to Soojin right now, and the latter of the two would definitely enjoy her company as much as she doesn’t want to admit, so Miyeon doesn’t feel too sorry.

She, on the other hand, is alone again, sitting in the empty cottage and watching over what seems to be an endless grassy field. Miyeon stands up and ponders whether it would seem less lonely if she had an apple tree next to her home. She takes a few steps forward from the entrance to her cottage and crouches down to the floor, she brushes away the earthy soil on the floor and whispers a few words. With dirt on her hands, she rises. In seconds, a small twig sprouts out of the group; in a minute, the twig seems to grow into the tree.

Miyeon takes a step back when the tree begins to grow buds and pink flowers start to blossom. Apple blossoms, like forget-me-nots, are said to symbolize love in some way. But unlike forget-me-nots, they are not attached to memories of what is gone, but to hope for a better future. As the tree starts to bear fruit from its flowers, Miyeon snaps her fingers and the rate of the plant’s growth seems to gradually come to a stop. Going up to the tree, she plucks a bright red apple, surely to be sweet and crisp when eaten. She slips into the pocket of her robe as she starts to walk through the grassy fields and towards the village.

Brushing against the tall stalks of grass, Miyeon calmly made her way towards the river and on to the dirt road. She appreciates how clear the water is and how it glimmers in the sunlight, she wonders if the pixies like to spend their free time swimming there during the hot summer nights. As time passes, Miyeon finally finds herself crossing the stone bridge and onto the path of the familiar cobblestoned streets. She listens to the voices of villagers blend into a pleasant background sound as she walks further into the town. Everyone seemed happy and well here, with only mundane worries that mortals have the luxury of having.

As she approaches the magician’s music shop, she hears the melodies of magical music boxes playing and the captivating sounds of string instruments playing together. As she arrives in front of the shop, she stands just outside and peers into the shop to observe what might be happening before she enters. She finds herself staring at her beloved sitting in front of the piano with her eyes closed.

Miyeon presses her hand against the glass as she watches Minnie play the piano while singing bittersweet melodies with her dreamy voice. Staying still for minutes, she watches her, entranced in her performance before she knocks on the door and the musician snaps out of it. Minnie is a bit flustered by her sudden appearance and hurries to the door to welcome her in.

“Hi, I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” Minnie nearly stammers as she greets her, “How did you know I’d be here?”

“I was walking along town and I was intrigued by all the instruments playing around here,” Miyeon explains, “And then I saw you so I decided to say hello.”

Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly Minnie responds, “Oh, I should’ve known and thanks for saying hi. My shift is about to end actually, would you like to go on a stroll?”

“Yeah, I would love to,” Miyeon accepts her proposal, “By the way, why do you seem so sad when you play the piano?”

As Minnie is walking behind the counter to make sure that everything is ready for closing at the magic store, she pauses. It takes her a few moments before she replies because she really has to think about it.

“I don’t really know,” Minnie professes, turning around to face her with sad evident in her eyes, “I just feel really sad sometimes, like I’ve forgotten something important but still remember the feeling of it.”

“I see,” Miyeon says, looking down at her feet.

“It just feels like I’m missing someone or a part of me at times,” Minnie admits, “I’m kind of envious how Soyeon and Yuqi have always had each other.”

“Yeah, I get that,” the accursed angel utters, “That sounds like it would be painful.”

Minnie, seeing that the traveler seems to be a bit saddened, flashes her a small grin and tells her, “But it’s alright, I have so many people that love and support me now. I imagine it’s harder to always wander through lands all alone.”

“It can be at times, but there’s a beauty to seeing so many people and learning their stories even for a short time,” Miyeon remarks, “But it is rather lonely.”

As Minnie seems to quickly settle things behind the counter, she rushes to Miyeon’s side and puts an arm around her and pulls her into a hug. She squeezes her shoulder and comforts her with pats down her back. Miyeon didn’t realize how much she missed this until she felt tears brimming on the edge of her eyes. She takes a step back, pulling away from her beloved because if she stays, she knows that those tears would fall.

“How about we go on that walk now and forget about those feelings,” Minnie soothingly suggests and offers her a hand.

The accursed angel nods before taking her hand, so soft and warm, and they walk out of the store as Minnie whispers enchantments to lock it down. The sun starts to set as they begin their evening stroll, leaving the sky in a gradient of red and blood orange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3


	5. Bittersweet

Minnie doesn’t know why she feels so sad walking along the road together with a pretty girl while the sun is setting. In theory, she feels like she should feel ecstatic because she’s going on what is basically a date with an unbelievably beautiful girl like Miyeon. On a temperate night like this, the perfect weather for a date where it’s not too cold or not too hot, she should feel lucky—like the stars have aligned. Yet, she can’t help but feel that there’s a part of her that’s missing. It’s confusing because it’s not like her heart isn’t skipping a beat as she feels her fingers entwine with the other girl’s. There’s something amiss, but she can’t quite wrap her head around it.

“Say,” Minnie says, “Miyeon, why do you think this sunset feels so sad.”

“Why do you ask that, are you sad?” Miyeon returns the question.

Staying silent for a bit, Minnie thinks about if she really is upset. She notices that she has been rather quiet and has felt rather defeated more than usual in the past week or two. Staring ahead as she watches the red sun fade into a dark clear sky with few clouds, Minnie sighs. She wonders if it’s because she’s grown more impatient and agitated with her lost memories. Who she was before, her identity, and her real name were all things she didn’t know. It still scared her when she woke up sometimes, if she would one day wake up and not remember everything all over again. Or maybe, perhaps, these feelings belonged to the ‘Minnie’ she couldn’t remember. 

Shaking her head, Minnie tells Miyeon, “Yeah, for some reason that I can’t tell, I feel sad.”

Miyeon squeezes her hand, and offers her a few words of support, “Well that’s okay, we don’t really need a reason to be sad, sometimes feelings just come to us and we need to feel them. And after we feel them, even if we don’t understand why we feel them, we have to let them go.”

“But doesn’t it bother you when you don’t know,” Minnie argues.

“It does,” Miyeon admits, “But sometimes feelings are not meant to be solved.”

The usually sickly mage stops in the midst of her tracks and takes a second to take in what the other girl said. She was right in a way, that feelings were complex and that there would be times where she couldn’t figure out the root of them. And just maybe, Minnie thinks, she should let those feelings go so she can fully enjoy what she has now. But, as the saying goes, it’s always easier said than done. 

As the edge of the sun falls adjacent to the edge of the ground, Minnie absentmindedly lets go of Miyeon’s hand and resumes their walk. The accursed angel notices but chooses to stay quiet in the meantime, silently following behind the so-called mortal who is seemingly lost in thought. Minnie sighs, stuck in her dilemma of wanting to let go but not wishing to give up at the same time. She wishes that she didn’t have to make hard choices like these in her life, she wishes that things were simpler. Then again, doesn’t everyone? 

“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt your train of thought, but do you have any idea of where we’re going?” Miyeon snaps her out of her trance.

Stopping in her tracks, Minnie turns to face Miyeon and catches a glimpse of a pixie fly by. She realizes that it’s getting a little late as the little mischievous creatures are typically active during the night.

“No, I actually don’t,” the girl who was previously deep in thought replies, “It hadn’t occurred to me at all.”

“With all that thinking you were doing, it would seem like it would cross your mind,” the angel disguised as a traveler jested, “If you have time, would you like to go on a short adventure?”

“Yes,” Minnie accepts the invitation as though the simple word can’t help but slip out of her lips.

Despite knowing how late it was getting and not having sent Yuqi or Soyeon an owl notifying them of her tardiness, Minnie couldn’t help but want to spend more time with Miyeon. There was this strange allure drawing her to spend more time with this ‘new’ girl in town. She figures they wouldn’t be too alarmed or worried because she had spent nights staying after at the music shop just playing piano before. They would probably think she was doing that because they knew how long her sickness had kept her away from the store recently and how much she loved playing sad melodies.

“Perfect,” Miyeon beckons to her as she turns and heads towards a different path than they were originally on, “follow me.”

Before Minnie can reply, Miyeon is already a few paces ahead and she has to quicken her pace to catch up. The archangel then glances back playfully before she picks up her speed telling the other girl to catch her if she could. With a foolish grin, Minnie picks up the challenge and runs after her. It doesn’t take too long for them to reach the stone bridge just over the tiny river that bordered the town. Out of breath and coughing a bit, the ‘mortal’ calls out for the angel to pause there. 

Miyeon complies and stops, leaning against the bridge, but also teases, “How does it feel to lose a challenge?”

“Like the wind has been knocked out of me,” Minnie says between huffs of breaths.

“Nice one,” Miyeon laughs and walks over to her.

“Thanks,” Minnie answers, leaning against the side of the stone bridge to try and regain her stamina.

“My pleasure,” the other girl playfully responds, “if you would like, I know a shortcut to the place I want to show you.”

“Really?” the winded girl asks.

With her back faced against the moon, Miyeon nods. Minnie is lost in awe as the light reflecting from the moon and on Miyeon’s back makes it look like she’s glowing. It’s almost like there’s a halo surrounding the girl, she looks so otherworldly that it’s almost like she doesn’t belong in the mortal world. 

“But if you would like to take my secret shortcut, you have to close your eyes,” breaking the silence, Miyeon whispers to her, “Would you do that for me?”

“Sure,” the other girl agrees.

Closing her eyes, Minnie becomes more aware of the gentle breeze gently billowing through her robe and the musky scent of the river. She notices that the water in the river runs rather smoothly, she doesn’t feel many droplets of water splashing against her. Instead, the slow and steady sound of flowing water soothes her. She feels a bit tense now that she’s been waiting a bit and she has no idea what Miyeon is doing.

“Do you trust me?” Miyeon asks.

“I don’t know why, but somehow I do,” Minnie tells her.

The accursed archangel smiles and she whispers enchantments in low murmurs. She walks behind the ‘mortal’ girl and wraps her arms around her waist. Minnie can feel them starting to ascend and her feet slowly lift off of the ground. She feels like she’s flying but it’s not the same familiar feeling of zipping through the air on a broom. Before her curiosity seems to get the best of her, Miyeon whispers something and a silky ribbon seems to fasten around her head, covering her eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I have my secrets to keep,” Miyeon murmurs.

With that, Minnie is left to only imagine what the other girl has done as she feels her body gliding through the air. Miyeon, however, knows everything as her wings are outstretched against the star speckled sky. With pure white feathers fluttering against the gentle night breeze, she flies over the empty fields on the outskirts of town where no one else can see. She wishes that she could snap her fingers and have then there already but she figured that would raise too much suspicion. It would be easier to explain away flying, she could hide under her disguise as a telepath and explain how it was a secret creature she had called.

She looks at the girl in her arms with a gentle smile resting on her face. With the glow of moonlight on her soft skin and dark brown hair, Miyeon can’t help but marvel at how perfect her beloved was. She wants nothing more but to whisper sweet nothings to her; to gently cup her face and plant a soft kiss on her lips; to tell her how much she misses being together with her. Minnie seems to tense in her arms as time passes though, seemingly growing more anxious as she is being kept from seeing the truth.

“Are we almost there?” the blinded girl asks with a bit of shakiness evident in her voice.

As Miyeon spots her little dainty cottage below, she begins to descend, and replies, “Yeah, just a bit more.”

With that, Minnie seems to relax a bit in her arms as they gradually approach the earth again. In moments, she feels completely relieved when she feels her weight shift from Miyeon’s arms to the ground again. Her vision still impaired by the ribbon, she reaches to pull it off. In a single smooth pull, the black ribbon unravels and it takes a few blinks for Minnie’s eyes to adjust her vision. Even though her sight was still slightly blurred, the girl swears that she sees a white feather floating in the air. But when she blinks again, she could not seem to find a fallen feather anywhere near their vicinity so she shrugs the thought away.

“I can’t say that I’m not a bit curious,” Minnie jokes, turning her attention to the other girl.

Miyeon smiles and explains, “A telepath makes friends with many creatures.”

“Is that so?” the other girl responds.

“I’m only going to tell you that much,” Miyeon teases her, jokingly sticking her tongue out at her.

“No fair!” Minnie pouts and stomps like a child.

Miyeon cannot help but giggle a little at that sight, she was just too adorable. Taking out the apple that she had picked earlier from her robe, she holds it towards the pouting girl.

“Would you accept this as an apology?” She offers the apple.

Stopping in the midst of her sulking, Minnie widens her eyes and takes the apple from her hand. She takes a moment to observe the deep red skin of the apple, which seemed perfectly ripe and of perfect size. Taking a bite, a sweet juicy flavor fills her mouth as a satisfying crispy crunch leaves her satiated.

“You are truly a woman of many talents,” Minnie compliments in between taking bites of the apple.

“Thank you.”

Wordlessly, Miyeon brings her to what seems like a rather quaint house that’s in the midst of these vast empty fields. On the side of the house, there seems to be an apple tree where she had obtained the apple from. She finds it quite soothing to have such a strong sturdy tree right by the house that sits in the middle of what looks to be never-ending fields. It definitely makes it feel less lonely than it probably was. Minnie wonders if this house is somewhat of a reflection of how Miyeon’s life is, to live almost all alone. She takes the last bite of the apple before throwing the core away and it seems to be slightly less sweet than all the other bites, bitter even.

“So is this where you live?” Minnie asks her as she follows Miyeon into the small wooden house.

“Yeah,” Miyeon tells her, “I quite like it, it’s rather peaceful; the only sounds that you hear are the howling wind or rustling leaves and grass.”

Minnie can’t help but think of how there’s a hint of loneliness in her voice when Miyeon tells her that she lives there alone. She wants to comfort her and tell her that she doesn’t have to be alone anymore, but at the same time maybe Miyeon really does like the peace and quiet. It might be offensive if she voices her concerns of the other girl. So, Minnie decides to keep quiet and instead follows the other girl to a tiny table with two chairs. Miyeon pulls one of the wooden carved chairs and motions for her guest to sit.

“You seem like a person that’s hard to get to know,” Minnie observes after she thanks her and takes a seat.

Miyeon, taking a seat across from her, looks at her curiously and asks, “Why do you say that?”

“You have so many secrets,” Minnie explains, “And you don’t seem to have much company as there are only two chairs in this house.”

“That’s a fair point,” the accursed archangel acknowledges, “Would you, perhaps, want to get to know me better then?”

Staring at her alluringly, with deep brown eyes with a hint of auburn, Miyeon looks at Minnie invitingly. With curiosity continuing to build and a mysterious gravity that seems to pull her to the secretive girl, it was almost impossible for the ‘mortal’ to not accept this tempting invitation.

“I would love to.”

As the other girl’s lips curved upwards ever so slightly, Minnie begins to feel a bit of uneasiness grow in her stomach, like she’s gotten into something that she shouldn’t have. There was something quite devilish behind her smile, perhaps it was the fact that she didn’t know much about this girl in an unknown place that was quite a hefty distance from her home. Yet, she also couldn’t help the excitement building up inside of her and a weird sense of safety in the other girl’s presence. It was a strange combination of feelings to have to say the least.

“Well, is there anything you want to know particularly about me?” Miyeon nonchalantly poses a question to her.

Fiddling with her fingers, Minnie thinks for a few seconds and recollects some of her thoughts from before. She still feels unsure if she should ask this, but whatever question she tries to think of keeps coming back to this one. So, she takes a deep breath, and ponders how she might phrase the question so it doesn’t sound rude. Noticing the wrinkles that are starting to furrow on Minnie’s forehead, the archangel takes note of the distress the other girl is feeling. She reaches out to squeeze the other girl’s hand, assuring her that whatever question she had would be.

So, with slight hesitation, Minnie asks, “Why do you like to be alone?”

Miyeon laughs and responds, “What made you think that?”

“No no no no, I didn’t mean to offend you,” Minnie says, flustered.

Interrupting the other girl in the midst of her frantic panic, Miyeon assures her that she hasn’t said anything wrong. 

“No, don’t worry about it, I just didn’t think it was that obvious,” Miyeon elaborates, “But seriously, what gave me away?”

“Well, I noticed that you only have two chairs so you must not have a lot of guests over and that this house is quite far into the fields,” the formerly frazzled girl points out.

“That’s fair,” the accursed angel jokes, “I didn’t know that it seemed that obvious, maybe I should build myself a sofa to keep up more of an illusion.”

Minnie giggles and responds, “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, maybe I’m just observant.”

“Oh really?” Miyeon says, raising her eyebrow, expressing rather sarcastic disbelief.

“Give me a break,” the other girl sighs, exasperated, “Besides, aren’t we supposed to be talking about you now.”

“You’re right,” the sly girl acknowledges, “Now where should I start?”

Pondering for a few moments, Miyeon decides to tell her a story about how she came to be an angel that also became a devil. Of course, she would leave out details, but she felt most compelled to tell her how it was like. Perhaps it was because she wanted to let her beloved know who she was again, to like she was completely known by someone again like how they were in the past.

“Believe it or not, I was a person who was very loved and looked upon to when it came to dealing with the matters of the deities,” Miyeon recalls, “I guess I was always the favorite among people that I lived with as I was a person of many talents, but then I was granted a big responsibility to keep people in order. Some might say that it shouldn’t have been possible that I had that much weight to carry without so much oversight, they started to resent me.”

Minnie frowns and interjects, “It sounds like they were jealous.”

“It could be,” Miyeon notes before continuing her story, “But one day I met someone, and I guess you can say that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought but her. She was my sanctuary, I always felt that I could be myself with her, that I could be less than perfect. It was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t know I needed until I met her, and I couldn’t let go of her now that I knew how it felt to be understood like that.”

Minnie can feel the quivers laced into her voice as the other girl progresses deeper into the story. 

“And I guess you can say that I started to break some rules because of my selfishness,” the lonely girl confesses, “When I wasn’t careful enough and she found out something she shouldn’t have ever known about my identity, and some powerful people were angry with me because of it. But they didn’t take it out only on me, they had punished her too. It would’ve been better if it were just me that was involved, but they felt that she too was a fault. She was an unknowing accomplice in my crimes, who was punished for something out of her control.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” the other girl interjects.

“Perhaps it wasn’t, but that it was the divine punishment they chose for me to face. It was not for me to decide,” Miyeon says, “Though, I was able to negotiate the punishment though. To save her from damnation, I was able to make a deal to give her a little more time but, of course, it came at cost. They had sent her away and I wasn’t allowed to see her until it came time that I had to carry out the promise I had made with them. And so, ever since then, I was at their mercy and traveled to far lands to carry out the tasks they had assigned me. I became used to being alone the moment she was sent away though. Without her, even if I had someone else traveling with me, it never felt like I was someone that was understood or known.”

The visiting girl feels her face drop into a pout upon hearing this story. The sadness in Miyeon’s voice is so apparent and she feels like she can somehow relate even though she doesn’t remember something like that happening to her. Her heart pangs and she wants to tell the girl who is reminiscing that she feels for her. And somewhere, deep inside, Minnie believes that she and that girl would be fine in the end although she has no idea where that sense of security is coming from. Instead of telling her with words, Minnie decides to interlock their hands together, silently comforting her instead.

Forgetting about her roommates at home, Minnie stays with Miyeon for a long time just talking about their feelings, their experiences, and random things that just came up in their minds. Although Minnie had felt a bit of hesitation about the girl before, actually talking with her dissolved any of those feelings of discomfort with her. As the night went on, the stars in the sky seemed to get brighter as the sky became darker. Slowly, Minnie became more and more tired as she talked with Miyeon, but at the same time she didn’t want this moment to end. Something was telling her to cherish every last second of it that she could. And so Minnie stayed with her until she was overcome by exhaustion and began to slowly drift to sleep.

Miyeon, noticing the girl drifting to sleep but not wanting for them to stop talking, had softened her voice into low murmurs. She couldn’t help but smile watching the girl slowly slip into slumber with eyes drooping like a cute little cat. When she finally seems to be overcome by sleep and slumps over the table, the accursed angel picks her up in her arms. Carrying her beloved in her strong arms once again with tears welling up in her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys seriously make my heart flutter with all the support, thank you


	6. You

She peers into the empty marble halls and, as usual, everything looks so perfect; there’s not a single speck of dust of this in sight. Minnie is sure if she looked closer that the temple wouldn’t have had a single scrap or scratch on its structure. She can’t remember why she used to marvel how beautiful this place was before, sure it was stunning and all but everything was just _too_ perfect. Come to think of it, Minnie doesn’t really remember where this place is and what it stood for at all even though she always sees it here—in her dreams that is.

Walking further down the hall, the girl hears her steps clack against the smooth stone with a dulling echo that followed seconds after she took each step. She feels a slight tension in the stillness of the air and feels anticipation for something to go wrong. Yet she feels that her body is unable to turn around and leave the scene. It seemed like what was going to happen was already set in stone; or, perhaps it has already really happened and this was some distant memory that she was currently unaware of. Minnie gets more anxious as she walks, because the perfect symmetry along the hall makes it seem like she isn’t going anywhere. She feels as far from the end of the hall as she was minutes before and she wonders if it might be because she was in a state of illusive thinking in a dream or if there was something unsettling that was going to happen. Of course, it could be because of both of those reasons but she didn’t wasn’t too keen on experiencing the latter.

What did a girl have to do to get one peaceful night of sleep where her dream is filled with sunshine and butterflies?

Minnie continues to go down the hall for what seems like an eternity to her before she is finally able to see the end of it. There stands an arched doorway with a figure standing under it that is too far for her to completely make out at the moment. She takes a few steps and the image starts to become more sharp and clear, but she couldn’t believe her eyes just then. She’s still in disbelief when she gets closer though, standing a mere meter away. Minnie just stands there, petrified as she stares at the ebony black feathered wing on the left of the figure juxtaposed next to the soft ivory white feathered wing on the right. 

“An angel,” she whispers under her breath, “that’s also a devil.”

It doesn’t seem like the figure has taken note of her presence yet as they seemed to be rather occupied in something. Holding her breath, Minnie takes a few steps closer to the creature, curious and wanting to observe the wings in more detail. She flinches when the figure flexes their wings out to their full length and yelps. The not-so-sneaky girl is sure that the figure has noticed her now as the angelic devil or devilish angel retracts her wings. The hybrid deity quickly turns around and quickly dashes at her to cover her eyes. Before the figure is able to do so, Minnie catches a glimpse of her face blurred in motion. The only distinguishable trait she really noticed was those eyes that seemed to change from pure glazed over white to a pulsing deep red.

Shocked, Minnie feels herself running as the figure lunges towards her. She wants to go home; she wants to see her brothers again and her beloved parents back in the mortal realm that she was supposed to visit today. As she rushes down the hall, she feels her body starting to lift off of the ground. She feels wings sprout from her back and she begins to take off. Minnie had always thought that things were too perfect here and that there was something she was missing, but she had never expected to see this. It was definitely something that she shouldn’t have seen but could no longer take back. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to come back to this realm so she might as well enjoy her last bits of freedom while it lasted.

A familiar voice calls for her and Minnie is tempted to turn around for a split second. Her perspective then shifts from first person to the view of the figure’s. She can see the shock on her face with her eyes widened but there was a hint of sadness to it, as if she was disappointed by something. She started to hear her thoughts from what seemed like a distant memory replay:

‘It was _you_ . Of all people, it had to be _you_.’

But who was this ‘ _you’_ and why was she so shocked about it?

Dreams always work in such strange and illusive ways where sensical nonsense always seems to prevail. Knowing that she was shocked by the appearance, this ‘ _you_ ’ must have been important to her but why has her mind decided to not reveal this person’s identity to her yet?

\---

Minnie wakes up in her bed, still tucked under her blue duvet and familiar room, gasping. At first, she doesn’t think much of waking up in her own room but after a few minutes confusion slips into her mind. If she remembered correctly, she had fallen into a slumber in the mysterious traveler’s house so how did she end up here again? 

She feels an itch caught inside of her throat and starts coughing lightly.

It’s not as bad as it could be but she definitely feels a bit of her strength drained after the coughing fit is over. Looking to the side of her room Minnie sees the sunlight falling in, illuminating the dust particles suspended in the middle of the air. She hears the birds calling and the light bustling of wagons on the streets. It seems as though it is still rather early in the morning so she tiptoes out of her bed, not wanting to wake either of her roommates up. Creaking the door slowly open, Minnie makes her way to the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible. However, her carefulness didn’t seem to matter as she saw her two roommates sitting silently together at the kitchen table, leaning against each other.

She smiles at the sight, she notes on how cute it is and wonders if she should stand there for a few moments to let them enjoy a bit more of each other’s company. Before she can make that decision though, Soyeon notices her and flinches away from their younger roommate. Yuqi then becomes aware of her presence and looks to be rather flustered.

“Good morning guys,” Minnie greets them, “I’m, uh, sorry to interrupt you two if something was happening and sorry for not getting home late last night.”

“NO!” Yuqi shouts, “I mean no, you weren’t interrupting anything.”

Soyeon’s lips noticeably twitch but she pretends that it doesn’t happen and continues trying to maintain a straight face before picking up her coffee and sipping it.

“So, are you going to tell us what happened yesterday?” Soyeon attempts to pivot the focus of topics to Minnie.

“Yeah yeah!” the youngest of them pips up.

Scratching the back of her, the eldest of the trio actually asks, “Well, I was with Miyeon but I was wondering how I got home since I fell asleep there.”

“Oh yeah, she sent us a telepathic that she was bringing you home late and came in later that night carrying you in her arms,” Soyeon informs her in a matter-of-fact tone, “She told you she was a telepath didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Minnie recalls, “she did.”

Realizing that she had fallen asleep in her arms and she had carried home made Minnie blush. She didn’t have the courage to talk to her roommates even more and felt the sound of her heart beat loudly, reverberating against her chest. Without another word, the now embarrassed girl pours herself a cup of water and a slice of toast before taking a seat at the table with her friends.

“Speechless now, aren’t we?” Yuqi cheerfully teased the older girl, “I personally think that the two of you look cute together.”

Feeling the heat starting to get to her face, Minnie blurts out, “Well, weren’t you guys awfully cuddly this morning?”

“N-no, I told you it was nothing,” Yuqi quips back but is evidently flustered.

Soyeon merely calmly leans onto the table and looks her dead in the eyes before saying, “We’re dating.”

“Oh,” Minnie is barely able to respond and Yuqi is visibly shocked.

“Now that we have that cleared, can we please keep discussing what you were doing with that girl yesterday, she’s a complete stranger and yet you agreed to go,” Soyeon investigates, “Quite interesting don’t you think, no?”

Minnie nervously bites her lips before answering, “I mean if she’s Soojin friend, I wouldn’t think that there’s anything fishy about her.”

“Fair,” Soyeon replies but doesn’t let her off the hook quite yet, “But don’t you think you should’ve at least let use know and why would you fall asleep at her house?”

Twiddling her fingers the older girl tries to give an excuse, “Well, I didn’t think I’d be gone for that long.”

Sighing Soyeon tells her, “We just want the best for you because you’re practically family to us you know, thank the deities that Miyeon ended up being a kind soul.”

Minnie’s expression brightens up at that moment, she loves when the younger girl gets soft because it shows how much she cares even if she doesn’t express it in the gentlest ways. Her slight strictness and harshness just emphasizes how she cares for them in her own unique way and she’s grateful. With a foolish grin on her face, Minnie pulls Soyeon and Yuqi into a group hug.

“Thank you for worrying,” she murmurs to them, “I love you guys.”

Yuqi perks up at this act of wholesomeness and responds, “We love you too Minnie.”

“Yeah, we really do care and love you,” Soyeon backs up, “We’re really glad to have met you.”

The three of them stay in the hug for a while, basking in the moment until they hear a knock on the door. Breaking apart the hug, Minnie tells them that she’ll go greet whoever their early morning visitor is. However, when she creaks the door open, she doesn’t see anyone there.

“Hello?” she calls out.

After waiting for a few moments without answer, Minnie starts to shut the door. But just as she is, she hears an oddly familiar voice in her head, telling her to meet at the side of the music store after her shift today. 

“Strange,” the girl mutters to herself but shrugs it off after shutting the door.

Minnie is back at the kitchen table now with her beloved friends, having a hot cup of water and freshly made toast. She couldn’t feel more mundane and comfortable as she is now with the exception of that strange dream and the recent weird incident that occurred. Little did she know that Miyeon was just a few blocks away from her house, walking along the streets after having imprinted that little message in her head.

Carrying on with her day, Minnie finishes her breakfast and bids farewell to her roommates before she heads out for another day of work. She walks down the familiar road that she does almost everyday and doesn’t think too much about what might happen later in the day. It feels like she’s just going through the motions of another regular day. She enters the shop and greets her coworker who soon passes on work for her, she closes the shop for a lunch break to eat, and the whole day has passed before she knows it.

When Minnie walked out of the shop after she finished meticulously checking that everything was in order, she didn’t expect for someone to tap her shoulder so quickly. She jumped, slightly startled by the unexpected touch, and jumped into a defensive position before turning around to face the person who had surprised her. Immediately after she realizes who it is, her body relaxes and she feels like maybe she should’ve expected this.

“Ah,” she exclaims, “so it was your voice in my head this morning.”

“Yes, it’s nice to see you again,” Miyeon laughs, “Did you think you were hallucinating this morning when I told you to meet me out here after your shift.”

“I mean, it’s not totally out of the realm of possibilities since I’ve been sorta sick for a while,” Minnie elaborates.

With concern in her voice Miyeon asks, “Well, did you feel sick today?”

“No, no, I just kind of ignore things like voices and visions,” Minnie tries to explain, “My body is just weak for whatever reason over the years so I’m used to shrugging off things like that.”

“Oh, well how about we forget about that for the rest of the day,” Miyeon suggests, holding out a hand to her, “I owe you for yesterday.”

With a glint of excitement in her eyes, Minnie claspes their hands together and accepts the invitation. Miyeon grins back at her and starts to pull her along another path, the younger girl didn’t know where she was going to bring her but she had this feeling that anything with her would be fun. Perhaps she was too trusting, perhaps she was also naive; but when you like someone, you do stupid things that you normally wouldn’t do. Besides, with Miyeon, Minnie finally felt like she was fully herself so what more could she ask for? They hadn’t known each other for long, at least to her knowledge, but it felt like they had known each other for years.

“How do you feel about picking flowers today?” Miyeon asks as they’re rushing along the streets like giddy little children without a care in the world.

“It’s like something I’ve done in a dream I never had,” Minnie tells her with a wide smile on her face, “Almost like it’s something I enjoyed in another life.”

“Perfect, we’re almost there,” Miyeon replies without saying much more.

In a few minutes, the two of them find themselves standing in front of a small patch of flowers just outside the village. The sun is going down again but it feels like a whole new day has already begun for Minnie, she hasn’t felt this fear in a while. 

Meanwhile, Miyeon just looks at her solemnly as they start to enter the fields. She watches her beloved pick red and purple anemones, she thinks about how ironic it is that these are the flowers that are there. Recalling a memory in the past, Miyeon remembers that this was one of the things that Minnie used to do with her when she was upset; to look at beautiful things which she claimed would bring her joy. Although those memories were precious and she certainly looked back upon them fondly, it was never the pretty flowers that brought her joy. But Minnie was still right, when Miyeon looked at her, it made her happy.

What on earth could be more precious than her smile and joy?

“You’re like my little angel,” Miyeon softly mutters herself before she goes to join her in the fields.

This evening was going to be as picturesque as the last, Minnie can already feel it in her bones. And as that thought crosses her mind, the sun falls from its glory and the golden glow fades into a hazy grayish blue, the field pixies start to awaken. Fluttering their wings they fly out of their little nestled homes, sprinkling off some glowing pixie dust as fireflies start to emerge from the long stalks of grass. Once again, the field is illuminated with golden glows, but instead of it shining all across, they’re more concentrated in little bits and pieces. 

The best way that Minnie could describe the glowing lights in the field would be like small pockets of joy that you don’t know when they’ll appear, but they do. And when those small pockets of joy do appear, although you know it’ll happen, they’re still filled with some type of wonderful and unpredictable surprise. Somehow she feels that Miyeon is somewhat like that, that she’ll bring her small pockets of joy that she won’t expect or know about but will deeply appreciate.

“Thank you,” she says to the other girl.

“For what?” the accursed archangel looks at her with slight confusion.

“For this,” Minnie opens her arms wide motions to the field, “and _for you_.”

“Anytime,” Miyeon responds and plucks a pink anemone.

She then snaps the stem of it away and she tells Minnie to come closer to her. Gently, she brushes the ‘mortal’'s hair behind and props the flower near her hair. Staring at her deeply, Miyeon wants to give her a sweet peck on the forehead but refrains herself out of doing anything unordinary because this Minnie didn’t know her that way after all.

“Shall we part ways soon?” the disguised deity asks as she takes a few steps away.

Minnie’s heart is still jumping because of the soft touch of the other girl, she can still feel the presence of her warm fingertips brushing against her ear. She doesn’t know if she’s blushing, but she’s certainly stunned into silence. When Miyeon pokes her back into reality Minnie apologizes and asks her to repeat what she said. Having heard the question this time Minnie almost says that she doesn’t want her to leave.

But luckily she catches herself before she lets it slip and decides that it is time to go today, “Yeah, it is late, see you soon again?”

“Sure, same time and place tomorrow,” Miyeon assures her, “And let me walk you home today, I know your health is unstable at times and I want to make sure that you get home safe.”

“That’s sweet,” Minnie tells her, “you’re sweet.”

“I try my best,” Miyeon smiles.

“I love that about _you_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm almost finished with the story in drafts, so except quicker updates than before


	7. Me

Several days passed after their first few magical nights together and Miyeon has taken Minnie to a number of other places since. 

They went to her cottage again to bake a cake just a few days ago and they made quite the mess in the kitchen. Lucky for them, as mages they could use a single charm or mutter a spell, depending on preference, and all would be clean again. On that day, Minnie felt her flutter a bit more for Miyeon as they started to grow more comfortable around each other.

They have also visited the river and talked while looking at the reflection of the blue sky. Although it seemed like they weren’t doing much, a lot felt during that day as Minnie felt her feelings clearer. Like she could clearly see the pebbles under the flowing water, Minnie was not completely aware of the feelings she was starting to develop for her.

They shared an umbrella when it started raining after one of their latest rendezvouses at a cafe. Miyeon had insisted on walking her home and Minnie insisted at least holding the umbrella for the two of them on their walk. Miyeon noticed that Minnie was having trouble in concealing her feelings then and wondered how long she could keep this up before it became too much for them.

It may not have been quite the same as before, but Miyeon wants this to last a little longer. She wants to make as many memories as possible before she can’t anymore. When it is time, she knows what she has to do so she’ll savor and cherish the moments while they last. Though, she knows that not everyone will agree with actions she is taking now.

“You have to stop recreating memories that you had before with her, Miyeon,” Soojin warns her, “You’re only going to get more hurt in the end.”

“I know that Soojin,” Miyeon laughs almost hysterically, “I know it all too well, but tell me that you wouldn’t do the same? Tell me that if it were Shuhua, that child that you’ve grown fond of protecting, you wouldn’t be doing exactly what I am?”

Soojin doesn’t reply at first, after all, she has really enjoyed these last few days where she’s been distracting the little angel in order for her to not interfere with Miyeon’s plans. She still doesn’t think that it’s right though, but she can’t honestly say that she wouldn’t be doing the same. There were just too many hypotheticals that she could think of, but right now it is not her job to dwell on such matters. Her job as a devil, and as a friend, is to remind Miyeon that she does have a mission to complete.

“Miyeon, whether I were to be in your position or not doesn’t matter,” Soojin lectures, “it’s that when the time comes, will you be able to take her life away? It’s only a matter of time before the heart of all divine will ask you for her soul and this little illusion she’s living will fall apart.”

Miyeon’s eyes turned red and her grip on the goblet she was drinking out of tightened. With her blood boiling and adrenaline coursing through her veins, she slams the cup down to the floor and lets the liquid paint the ground red. Standing up, not looking at the devil, Miyeon walks over to her with her fists balled.

“Leave!” she harshly yells at her, almost like she’s warning her that things might not be so pretty if she doesn’t.

Not wanting to deal with such a mess, Soojin merely replies, “Fine, have it your way.”

And then, she snaps her fingers, disappearing in thin air to wherever else she’d rather be. The accursed archangel grits her teeth and feels the urge to break something completely. Yet she cannot deny that everything Soojin said was nothing but the absolute truth. She had made a promise to the glowing blue cube embedded deep in each of the realms of the deities that she would do as they said. 

Miyeon remembers that moment very vividly. 

She was standing in the depths of hell that day, with black wings, red eyes, and clear tears running down her face. Collapsed onto her knees she had begged them not to punish her and to let the fault all lie on her. They told her that they could not change the rules for her of the cycle life and to give up. But they had made a proposal to her, to give Minnie a few more years to live with blissful ignorance in the mortal world in exchange for several things. Among those negotiations there was one that Miyeon had trouble accepting, it was that she would be the one to take away Minnie’s mortality forever when those years were over and that she could not be with her. 

Of course she had accepted at the end because what other choice did she have? She wasn’t letting Minnie go that easily even if it would be hard for her.

Miyeon sighs and picks the goblet up back from the floor, she takes a few deep breaths to calm down. Her eyes fade into a soft chocolate brown again and sits down, she looks at the sun still high up in the sky with all its glowing brilliance. She decides that maybe she’ll change it up to and see her beloved earlier. She hesitates though as Soojin’s words echo in her head, but today she will go. Tomorrow may be different, so she’ll cherish today. 

Snapping her fingers, Miyeon apparates herself a few feet away from the bridge to the town so as to not cause any mortals to be suspicious of her true identity. Calmly, she slowly starts making her way to the familiar music shop, wondering what memories might be made later on in the day. With a shadow of nervousness following her behind, her steps feel rather heavy as she gets closer to the familiar shop where various magical music tinkers dispel a chorus of melodies. When Miyeon is able to see the girl through the glass windows of the shop, she isn’t so sure if she should be here anymore. The ‘mortal’ girl doesn’t seem to notice the archangel as she continues to watch from afar.

Miyeon wonders what’ll happen when she remembers everything and if she’ll hate her for the decisions that she has made. But, in the end Miyeon thinks it’ll be okay in the end because she has a plan and they'll be together in it. Letting her worries wither away, the accursed angel takes a step closer to the shop and puts on a brave smile. When Minnie’s eyes fall onto hers, she can see her face light up and the prettiest smile Miyeon has ever seen once more.

Opening the door, the accursed archangel greets the shop assistant, “Hello my dear, how are you doing today?”

“Lovely now that you’re here,” Minnie joyously informs her, “Today, I’m actually taking off early so I was worried going to catch you today.”

“Is that so, is there something that you have to do later?” Miyeon asks her.

“No, actually,” Minnie hesitates to tell her, clearly concerned about information she was holding back.

“Really?” Miyeon contemplates before offering, “Would like to join me again today?”

Minnie doesn’t reply to her invitation at first and it concerns Miyeon. The ‘mortal’ had some sort of anxious aura surrounding her and her eyes seemed to waver upon contact. Miyeon isn’t sure what exactly is wrong, but there is something different about the girl.

“Well,” Miyeon decides to put a bit of pressure on her to answer.

“I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, so I’m not sure if I should go,” Minnie finally professes to her.

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it. If you would like, I could walk you home today,” the archangel assures her, slightly relieved that Minnie had not uncovered any memories that would make her doubt the current reality she is living in right now.

Without much resistance, Minnie gladly accepts her offer and even links arms with her as she passes the register off to the next worker. Her coworker seems to tease her slightly but the two of them pay no attention as they’re already too absorbed with one another. The beginning of their walk doesn’t seem to be any different from the other times they have started to meet each other just several days ago. 

But as the walk goes on, Miyeon starts noticing how Minnie is having trouble keeping and has started coughing a little. Silently, the accursed archangel gives her a look of worry and the ‘mortal’ returns the look with a weak smile. Not saying anything, Miyeon reaches for her hand and squeezes it as if she was telling her that everything was going to be okay. 

“Are you okay?” Miyeon questions her without looking too much in her direction, afraid that if she makes eye contact that she won’t be able to keep up her facade.

The ‘mortal’ stumbles upon her feet and answers, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

The accursed archangel slows down her walking pace and the two wordlessly continue on the paved path of the cobble-stoned road. There’s this unsaid rule of silence that seems to reign over them for whatever reason. Perhaps it was due to Miyeon’s trouble with Soojin’s words or may it was because of Minnie’s unwillingness to speak of her deteriorating health. Alternatively, it could be both of those reasons, but whatever it was, it had seemed to cause an awkward rift between the two. When they reached the front of Minnie’s house who she shared with Yuqi and Soyeon, there was an uncomfortable pause before any of the two said anything.

“So I’ll see tomorrow then?” Minnie asks her as she has her hand already on the door knob.

Miyeon looks at her solemnly and answers, “Sure, sure you will.”

“Goodbye,” Minnie tells her.

As the girl slips behind the door, Miyeon uses her last bit courage to take one good look at her before she leaves. Miyeon’s eyes widened in horror as the door shut against the entrance frame of the house and started to back away. In a few moments, the accursed archangel is sprinting, she has to tell Soojin.

Meanwhile, Minnie sighs as she enters the house, back against the door and letting out a breath of relief. She felt this uneasiness with the other girl she was just walking with today and wondered why she had attacked so strangely today. Believe it or not though, this obscurity was the least of her worries today. Minnie was having trouble standing up straight as vertigo started to hit her again and images started to superimpose across her vision. The goblet, the burning town, and the women that had both the features of an angel and devil flickered in scattered images across her eyes.

Throwing her robe to the magical wardrobe, Minnie tries to at least do the bare minimum to get settled at the empty house. She staggers to the kitchen and is barely able to sit herself without almost falling over. Shakily, her fingers reach for her empty cup and the mix of herbs that Soojin had given to her. Placing a few dried up forget-me-not petals at the bottom of the cup, Minnie then holds onto whatever ledge she can to get to the kettle that Yuqi had enchanted to stay hot with her pyromagic. Holding the cup in her two hands, Minnie watches the petals slowly dissolve. She notices her own reflection in the clear water and it alarms her ever so slightly, her eyes look like they’re red. 

However, as the petals dissolve, a whirl red takes over the cup and Minnie figures that whatever she had seen was just the wisps of the herbal drink starting to form as always. Carefully, she brings the cup up to her lips and takes a sip of the rich red liquid. The images she saw flickering over her vision seems to tone down a little and she starts to feel some strength return to her legs. 

“Thank the deities,” Minnie exhales as if she’s been holding a breath in this whole time.

Without waiting much longer she chugs the rest of the cup and feels some sense of normalcy return to her. Minnie hears the clock ticking in the background and wonders how much time she has left as her symptoms seemed like they were getting worse over the days. Somehow she feels like she has felt like this before, to be helpless while she watches impending dread slowly come over her. Setting the cup down, Minnie’s is a bit startled because it looks gold goblet all of the sudden. But when she blinks again it’s gone and her cup is back to normal.

Minnie doesn’t know what’s happening but she doesn’t like it.

She gets up from her slumped stance and takes a few steps towards her room. There, she allows herself to collapse on her bed and finds her staring at the white ceiling above. She sees faint visions of her dreams starting to appear again and she feels frustrated. In an effort to get rid of the images, she closes her eyes and lets her vision turn black. Instead of vision though, she is now faced with whispers in her ear telling her things she can’t seem to make any sense of.

There was one soft voice as faint as the wind repeating the words “ab imo pectore” to her. Meanwhile, there was another that sounded like her voice that was screaming that she couldn’t believe that it was “ _ you _ ”. The third distinct sound was the cacophony of screams in the burning village that she would always hear in her dreams. Minnie brings her hands up to her ears to try to stop the voices even though she knew that they were coming from her own head. She begs them to stop, but it is to no avail as they remain and even grow louder. The poor girl wonders if she can get anyone to help her, she opens her eyes and searches for the bell that Shuhua had left her.

Frantically her eyes shift from one side of the room to the other, but it seems that she had misplaced the golden bell somewhere she had forgotten. She curses at herself and can only hope that either Soyeon or Yuqi gets home sooner than usual. Minnie feels absolutely hopeless as her hallucinations start to cloud her vision and distort her hearing. She feels herself being engulfed in some sort of darkness and wonders if she’ll still be okay by the end of this day. Minnie starts to feel tears run down her face as she feels her heart start to slowly ache at her own fate. She hates the self-pity she has for herself because it makes her feel so selfish like she couldn’t do anything better than feel bad for herself. 

Bringing her hands to wipe away her tears, Minnie notices something rather out of place and even more unordinary than the influx of hallucinatory images and voices that she’s currently experiencing. She closes and opens her eyes several times to check if what she is actually real. As it doesn’t seem to disappear, in fact, it even seems to cover more space than she had first noticed she feels even more fear flow through her veins. She jumps up out of her bed, holding on to the slim sliver of hope that she was just seeing things again.

Running to the bathroom, Minnie takes a good look at herself in the mirror. She is again met with shock as she finds the eyes staring back at her are indeed red just like the reflection of herself that she saw in her herbal medicinal tea before. The tips of her fingers also appear black on the other side of the mirror, affirming that this visual change was not something that her mind had simply made up. She watches as the blackness slowly starts to crawl to her palms bit by bit, consuming more and more of her until her hands are completely immersed.

“Why?” she says to herself, alone in the bathroom staring at the mirror.

At that moment, she had thought nothing else could surprise her nor frighten her, but what happened next was something that did exactly that. She felt it first before she saw it, but wide ebony feathered wings sprouted from her back and stretched out wide. Minnie had seen a wing like this before, the woman who was both an angel and a devil had a wing exactly like this. It shouldn’t be possible that she had such appendages, the girl tries to convince herself that she was still mortal and this was all merely an illusion or another one of her weird dreams. Though it hadn’t worked before, Minnie again closes her eyes and opens them to see if all of this would disappear.

When she sees that all remained the same, her heart drops and she falls to the floor. She curls up with her wings enveloping around her tiny figure. Minnie doesn’t know what to do anymore and she’s even more confused in who she is. When the poor girl dares to open her eyes again she is faced with an image of herself from that very first day she barely remembers. 

With dead dull eyes and dirt smeared all over her, the then ‘Minnie’ asks the current Minnie one simple thing, “Remember me?”

Before she can answer, she feels the familiar feeling of everything from consciousness and this time, she doesn’t fight it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda bored now that uni is over, so i'm updating


	8. A Devil That Looks Like an Angel

Minnie has always loved Miyeon. 

For the moment she stepped foot into the realm of angels, she was entranced with her beauty. And when she started speaking to her and having little secret rendezvouses, it almost felt like she was alive again. They had consulted each other on the deepest and most heartfelt feelings they had. Minnie felt like they knew each other perfectly, that one of them would not be complete without the other.

So when she saw her with her wings spread, one pure white and the other completely black, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Back then she had sprinted out of shock and even remembered screaming, “It was you. Of all people, it had to be you.”

It was not that she was scared of Miyeon or anything, or that she hated her. Minnie merely didn’t know what to think of the truth now that her beloved was not who she thought she was and the realm was not as the heart of all divine had described. She had uncovered a truth that she probably shouldn't have. As she ran further down the hall and out of the tall marble structure that seemed so immaculately sculpted she saw the heart of all divine. It emitted a blue glowing light that seemed to be chasing after, with fear growing in her chest, Minnie started to run faster.

But it was too late, as soon as the blue light had touched the tip of her body, Minnie knew it was hopeless for her. She watches the darkness crawl up from the tips of her fingers all the way up to arms as she continues to try escape the heart of all divine. When she breaks from the realms, she finds that her wings are blackened as she tries to stop herself from falling directly into the ‘mortal’ world. With widened eyes, Minnie recognizes the town, she knew it all too well. Something seems out of the ordinary though, she picks up as she sees an alarming amount of smoke rising into the sky.

Minnie starts to panic.

Today, she was supposed to see her brothers again and watch over them as they had when she was still a ‘mortal’. She was supposed to bless them with good fortune and protect them from tragedies such as great flames as their guardian angel. What a bitter joke that was, now she would bring nothing but misfortune to the town as she falls from her grace as an angel.

“Come back,” a voice from a blue cube emitting light commands her, “You have discovered something you shouldn’t have and disturbed the balance between angels and devils, you must suffer the consequences.”

The fallen angel doesn’t even bother to pause as she dives down to visit the town that she grew up in once more. She wanted to see her family for one last time before they perished and she turned into a devil. Desperately, she had searched for them as the black darkness started to consume even more of her and she could feel it starting to rip out her soul.

Minnie remembers that as mortal that although her brothers would tease her, they would also take turns treating her like a little princess. They stood up for her like knights of shining armor when the other kids tried to tease her. She remembers her dad’s brilliant grin and her mom’s fond smile as they rushed over to protect her but her brothers had already done the job.

“You shouldn’t deny our orders,” the booming voice calls from above again, “you will regret it.”

“Maybe I will regret it,” Minnie shouts back at them as she continues her search to see one last glimpse of her family.

With pieces of burning buildings crashing down, the fallen angel starts to feel desperate. She feels the darkness seeping into her chest and wonders how much longer she’ll be able to withstand the heart of all divine. As her strength starts to fade, she sees her brothers running in the distance with their parents. She sees the building adjacent to them crumble and she turns away and closes her eyes. As the darkness comes her heart and her mind slips away, Minnie whispers one last phrase to them: 

“I’m sorry.”

Meanwhile, the accursed archangel was set into a state of panic left behind in the realm of the angels. Miyeon knew what it meant for her to have angels discover her identity, it was disruption in how life worked. Angels were supposed to give life and see the happiness that came with it while devils were punished with the task of taking the lives of mortals, watching the devastation of how death destroyed people over and over again. The two deities were to stay in different realms and were not disturb each other unless the heart of all divine had plans for them. What was different about the angels and devils though was that angels still had a chance to become mortal again, to live and experience mundane joys.

And on a similar note, devils are torn from their souls once they fail as angels, no longer shielded from the horrors of the world by the divine love of the heart of deities. Knowing how both sides worked, Miyeon didn’t want her beloved to lose such joys because of a simple mistake of hers. If she had been more careful, Minnie would’ve been able to live as a mortal again and not have to ever face the horrid jobs of a devil. Yet perhaps being a devil wasn’t so bad, their friend Soojin seemed accustomed to the job, completely unbothered by her everyday tasks. She didn’t seem to pay a speck of care to the souls she was reaping; to her, it was just a natural part of life. And, best of all, Minnie could still see her and she wouldn’t have to hide anything this time around.

But there are things worse than becoming a devil.

That is to say that Minnie’s existence could very easily be erased if the heart of all divine wished for it. The thought of that possibility made the accursed angel’s heart fill with anxiety, she couldn’t bear the thought of a reality where her beloved didn’t exist anymore. So Miyeon snapped her fingers and found herself in the realm of the damned where ashes fell and piled up like snow and the sound of flames crackled in the background as it scorched the blackened ground. Walking down deeper and deeper into the depths of the realm, to the center of this hell, Miyeon knelt down and stared into the cube emitting a pulsing blue glow.

“Please, I beg of you not to punish Minnie too harshly,” Miyeon requests of the core of divinity, “What she discovered was a simple accident on my part.”

“That cannot be done,” the cube’s voice booms, “it is too late.”

Miyeon’s starts to feel her palms get sweaty and nervously questions, “What do you mean?”

“She has chosen to deny orders and has failed to protect the balance of life in the town she was assigned to,” the heart of all divine’s voice resounds through the burnt fields of this realm, “She has proven untrustworthy to us, she must be destroyed.”

“But there must be some other way,” Miyeon had implored, begging them on her knees almost in disbelief of what was just said, “This isn’t fair, she didn’t know the rules.”

“Nothing else can be done,” the voice resounded through the room, “The order of life must be protected.”

“What if I make an exchange,” Miyeon asks in a cry of desperation.

After a pause in the air the cube emits a strange glow and its voice resonates through the depths of the realm, “And what would you exchange?”

The accursed angel hesitates, but she offers them all that she has, sacrificing what was perhaps seens as most sacred and valuable to others. Yet, she would give it all up in hopes that it was enough to save her beloved because she valued her more than anything across the realms. For all those years she’s held the balance between the realms, for all those years she yearned to protect what she was giving away. She was so close to reaching her goal, but what does it matter if she wouldn't be happy after achieving it? 

Minnie was her happiness, and she wasn’t going to let her be erased.

As the cube’s glow seems to dull again and the silence remains longer for a few seconds, Miyeon nearly loses hope. However just as she’s about to leave to mourn her beloved the cube glows in brilliant blue and accepts the offer.

“Very well,” it’s voice reverberates through the room, “I will take what you offer and restore Minnie’s soul so that she can live in the ‘mortal’ world for a few more years. Of course, I’ll make the adjustments you’ve requested as well. But, you must know that when the time comes, you must be the one to reap her mortal soul, do you understand?”

Biting her lips, Miyeon doesn’t know if she would be able to do that, to watch her beloved in agony and be the cause for it all over again.

“If you agree with the terms, take this goblet and drink the red liquid with her. She will forget and start anew, that will be the beginning of the clock to our deal.”

\---

As Miyeon races to find Soojin in the ‘mortal’ world, the deal she makes echoes in her head once more. She saw it with her own eyes, the pulsing redness seeping into Minnie’s eyes but she didn’t want to believe it. She knew it was time, but like Soojin had said, Miyeon didn’t know if she could do it. 

When she reaches the cornerstone herb shop at the side of the village, she feels the desperation flowing through her whole body. Opening the door to the shop, the accursed archangel was about to unravel all her concerns but she quickly shuts her mouth when she sees the youthful angel standing at the counter.

“Shuhua,” Miyeon exclaims, “What are you doing here?”

The young angel jumps at the unexpected call for her while Soojin is unbothered, continuing on with whatever she is doing.

“I’m just getting to know the town better,” Shuhua tries to come up with a lame excuse.

“Whatever it is, you should get back to work,” Miyeon says with emphasis on certain words, “Perhaps, you should report to the higher ups.”

And with that Shuhua quickly excuses herself with clear uneasiness painted on her face. 

“Yeah maybe I should,” she mutters under her breath, “killjoy.”

Miyeon decides to let that last statement go as the younger brushes past her and soon exits the realm, she has more important and pressing matters to deal with at the moment. Soojin, who remained composed before, now has an expression of concern on her face as she knows that Miyeon is not one to act so rashly all of the sudden. She snaps her fingers and decides to lock the shop so no one can walk in on their conversation and discover something that they shouldn’t.

“What the hell is going on Miyeon?” Soojin questions with assertiveness clearly ringing in her voice.

“It’s time,” the accursed archangel says, “And you were right, I don’t think I can do it.”

And with that, Soojin gives her a sad knowing look. Miyeon already knows that the devil could do nothing to help her, but she needed some support right now, for someone to tell her that it would be alright. Even if it didn’t come from the lips of the person she yearns to love and protect, Miyeon needed someone to lean on.

In the meantime, Minnie had awoken from her slip of consciousness and stood up to take a look at herself in the mirror. Her wings seem to have detracted and her skin was spotless once more. Quietly, she made her way to the kitchen again and sat there with no expression in her eyes. She didn’t know what to think about her own situation really, she was having trouble processing it all—she simply didn’t know what to make of it.

She looks at the petals of forget-me-nots and looks at how they’ve withered. When she pours a handful of them in her palm and they so easily disintegrate into black ashes. ‘How interesting’ she thought to herself and let the ashes fall to the floor. At that moment, she hears the sound of the front door creaking open and soft footsteps. With a relaxed and carefree expression on her face, Soyeon soon walks into the kitchen. She jolts in slight surprise to see Minnie already home, unaware of her presence as she did not hear the usual cheery ‘hello’ from the girl.

“Oh hi Minnie, I didn’t know you were home already,” Soyeon starts the conversation, “Did you feel sick today and have another one of your strange dreams again?”

“Yeah, I had another dream,” Minnie responds in almost complete monotone.

Soyeon, sensing that something is off, questions, “Was there anything wrong in that dream?”

“Everything was wrong Soyeon,” Minnie says, her voice cracking upon saying her name, “And I don’t know what to do.”

“Did you remember?” Soyeon takes a step closer, asking the girl who seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.

“Yes,” Minnie softly admits, “But I really wish I hadn’t.”

“And why is that,” Soyeon continues to probe the older girl.

But this time, Minnie doesn’t answer immediately, she looks down instead and looks as though she’s in a daze again. When the magical clinician is about to speak up, the other girl seems to snap out of it. She looks at her with eyes filled with some type of sorrow and Soyeon can almost guess what’s coming next.

“You need to go back, don’t you,” Soyeon guesses, “You have someone waiting for you.”

With a sad smile, Minnie nods, “Something like that, will you tell Yuqi I said goodbye?”

“Won’t you come back?”

The older girl pauses and she doesn’t want to answer her because she knows that they both won’t like what she has to say about that. At the moment, Minnie understands why Miyeon decided to erase her memory and let her start anew for a few years. To remember, Minnie feels that isn’t the most painful because of the sad memories that she saw. At least that she can accept and get over, but to remember all that she cherished and made her happy but not be able to ever have it again, she wouldn’t know how long she would be able to handle that. Perhaps it was easier to live without knowing a part of herself, because that part of herself would’ve hurt her then.

“Goodbye and thank you for being my family.”

Before the younger girl can say anything Minnie snaps her fingers.

The ashes of the forget-me-nots on the floor disappeared as did Soyeon memories of her. 

Minnie snaps her fingers again and she erases any traces of herself from the house, teleports herself to the entrance of the house. There she sees the doorknob turning open and Minnie closes her eyes, trying to keep in the tears. When the door flings open she sees Yuqi still covered in charcoal and dirt as she usually is after finishing her work blacksmithing.

With a cheerful smile the younger girl greets her for the last time, “Hey, how was your day Minnie! My day was really great, I got to do a lot of cool things you know!”

Minnie couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s boisterous entrance back home, it was things like this everyday that had made these last few years great. All these tiny bits of happiness gathered together, she was grateful for them.

“My day was great,” Minnie put on a brave face and lied to her, “Keep being this cheerful even when I’m not there.”

“What do you mean?”

The older girl doesn’t answer her, instead she slips a hand over her head. The next thing Yuqi knows is that the door is closing shut and it feels like she forgot something important. She swears she hears the faintest goodbye being said to her but she can’t recall anything about the owner of the voice.

Minnie walks onto the familiar stone cobbled streets, she looks at the sun glowing red and starting to descend for the hazy blue sky. She understands why she feels so sad looking at the sunset now, especially with Miyeon. How could she not be sad when happy things have come to an end?

Walking through the streets, Minnie hears the laughter of children who were playing pranks on each other and the light scolding of their parents. Her steps were grim and heavy as she continued on ignoring the bits of mundanity that she would miss. Some time later along her walk, she hears a chorus of the boisterous greetings of her neighbors just like how they would greet her everyday for the past few years, none of them were addressed to her. In this town she was a stranger now, a ghost that they would have phantom memories about but never see.

Minnie thought it was funny that for how quickly it took to get acquainted to the town, it was even quicker to become a stranger. All she had needed to do was snap her fingers and, in less than a blink of the eye, no one knew her anymore. A familiar type of the laughter started to creep up her throat, it was the type where she knew she was doomed but she could do nothing about it.

After all, Minnie had just lost her family and home for the second time.

Finding herself at the edge of town, Minnie lets out a laugh of self pity that almost sounds like a cry before she continues her walk as night starts to fall. She walked through the tall stalks of grass where pixies scattered at her presence and fireflies zoomed away. She wonders what it must’ve been like for Miyeon to remember everything and then try to recreate moments they had together as she gets closer to the cottage in the midst of the vast fields.

The accursed archangel watches the figure of her beloved slowly become clearer as Minnie came closer from the depths of the fields. She took a deep breath and to remind herself to trust the words that Soojin had promised to her. Without further ado, Miyeon then started to walk towards her beloved to see her whole again for one last time. With the glow of the moonlight and speckled stars, the spotlight seemed to be on them tonight.

Reaching her in the middle, the two lovers paused and looked at eachother. It had been so long since they looked at eachother like that, knowing and remembering everything about one another. Miyeon raises her hand and tucks a strand of Minnie’s hair behind her cheeks before leaning in to kiss her. It was soft and as sweet as honey, Minnie couldn’t believe that she had ever forgotten such a wonderful feeling. And as their lips parted, Minnie faintly whispers to her the three words Miyeon’s been longing to hear for all these years.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” Miyeon responds without any hesitation, “I missed you so much.”

“I know, ” Minnie says, wrapping her arms around her beloved, “you did well, thank you.”

Holding her in her arms like this again, Miyeon didn’t want the moment to end. To be in love was to hope that moments like this would stay forever, it was delusional and unlikely but who could argue with their own heart? 

“Miyeon, I know what you have to do,” Minnie whispers to her softly, “it’s okay, you’ve suffered enough.”

“Can’t we stay like this a little longer?” Miyeon mutters, holding her tightly in her arms, “the damned cube can wait a bit longer.”

“The promise Miyeon, the divine heart told me everything in the dream before I remembered everything,” Minnie reasons with her, “It’ll be worse for me and you both if you don’t do what you promised.”

Pulling apart from her beloved finally, Minnie guides Miyeon’s hands above her chest where her heart was. She couldn’t deny that she was nervous for how fast her heart was going, but she needed to be brave for the both of them. With a smile on her face that’s so precious that it makes Miyeon’s heart melt, the girl so easily breaks her heart with the next few words that she says.

“Miyeon, take my soul away,” the other girl tells her, “let me die.”

With great hesitance, Miyeon puts her hand over her beloved’s heart and starts to pull her soul out her body. She feels Minnie’s hands lay softly but firmly on top of hers and looks at her beautiful gentle smile. Even now, after all she has been through, Minnie was still kind to her. Miyeon watches as the darkness starts to climb her lover’s body and how her eyes start to slowly turn red again. She can feel the light in her eyes slipping away as she continues to tear her soul away from her body. The accursed angel wants to stop, she almost lifts her hand away but Minnie looks at her and weakly shakes her head, holding her hand above her heart.

“It’s okay,” Minnie tells her with a soft and sweet voice, “I’ll be okay.”

Miyeon bites her lips and nods as she continues her task, she watches as the darkness starts to consume almost the entirety of Minnie. It was crawling up her beautiful skin and flowing through veins, engulfing every last bit of her. Yet, to Miyeon, Minnie still looked so angelic to her, with the weak smile on her face and her soft touch on her hands.

“You will always be my angel,” Miyeon whispers to her beloved devil, leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together.

Smiling until the end, Minnie closes the gap between their lips and plants a sweet kiss on her lips before she feels her body go limp once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	9. Fall in Love

Love makes you do stupid things.

Like how Miyeon foolishly grinned when Minnie first held her hand or when she almost tripped over her own feet when she caught the other girl smiling at her. So it’s safe to say, this is not the first stupid thing Miyeon has done for love. When the accursed archangel offered her soul just a few months short from being offered to be reborn as a mortal, many would’ve said it was outrageous. 

Love, they would argue, only lasts a lifetime at most; after each reincarnation, things could change. Miyeon isn’t so sure of that, she’s not sure how many past lives she’s had that she’s fallen in love with Minnie. But, from the moment they met, there was a connection between them that simply couldn’t be anything other than fated love.

For what it’s worth though, Miyeon understood not every soul got a chance for reincarnation, to become an angel. Many just simply disappeared or they were destroyed by the heart that was all divine. So the accursed angel could understand why people would value their soul and a chance at mortal life over anything else. But what of it if she couldn’t ever be with _her_ again? What was a life without happiness?

Miyeon simply didn’t see the point of living without her beloved.

So when Minnie was set to be erased by the heart of all divine, Miyeon no hesitation to exchange her soul for a few more years of her mortality instead. There was no need for divine love when she had her love. 

As Miyeon carried Minnie’s body all the way to the depths of hell, she looked at her like no one else in existence mattered. Gently setting her body down on the ashened ground and wet mud, the accursed angel took steps towards the glowing blue cube. Silently, she dispelled her lover’s soul to the heart of all divine before she, herself, was engulfed in blue flames.

She felt the scorching flames burn through her body and consuming her heart, taking her soul and her last chance of mortality. Smiling at the decision, Miyeon doesn’t mind the pain at all, not when she gets to be with her. Through the sparks flying off of her, the accursed angel sees the tips of her finger start to blacken and her strength leaving her body. She closes her eyes, as she feels the darkness in her start to engulf any last bits of her angelic features and lets herself fall deeper into the blue flames.

Was it selfish? Was her decision entirely self-indulgent?

It was, every last bit of it was.

If she had not chosen something for herself, then who else would?

When Miyeon opens her eyes again, she feels herself on someone’s lap. She looks up and can only see a wooden ceiling which she strangely doesn’t recognize seeing in the realm of devils. After a few blinks, she realizes that she’s in quite a familiar place, it seems to be her house on the hill. Miyeon sits herself up and realizes that they’re on a couch which was something she didn’t remember being there before. The figure whose lap she was using as a pillow shifts when the other girl removed herself from her. 

“Minnie,” Miyeon murmurs as she sees who the figure is.

The younger girl seemed to be fast asleep, leaning back against the seemingly new couch with a peaceful expression on her face. She appears to be in a blissful state so it makes Miyeon smile, she wonders what she could be dreaming of now. Gently, with great carefulness, the former archangel touches her beloved’s face, caressing her cheek before pressing a soft kiss on her forehead. In her sleep, her lover mumbles something and shifts her position. The older girl decides to keep teasing her by poking her cheeks every now and then. She watches as the sleeping girl makes a disgruntled face at each poke and giggles to herself. When Minnie finally opens one of her eyes, groggily awakening from her deep slumber, she is met with a very lovely surprise.

“Morning sleepy head,” Miyeon says to her, “Hope you had a nice rest.”

“I did, it’s been a long time since I had a nice dream,” Minnie tells her, “It’s been a long time since I’ve dreamed of you and me together.”

Miyeon smiles at her, and then touches her face and softly plants a kiss on her forehead. The other girl simply wraps her arms around her waist and hugs her. This feeling of being in her arms was the type of serene peace that she always wished for, almost too good to be true. The wind blew and the grass outside rustled against the azure blue sky. To have her beloved safe in her arms made her heart warm and feel like all her worries had disappeared. 

“How long do you plan on staying like this,” Minnie asks her.

The former archangel looks at her lover with a gentle expression on her face and answers, “For as long as possible.”

“Okay,” her lover snuggles closer to her, “if that’s what you want.”

Just like that, the two of them stayed together, in each other's arms, until the sun started to fall again. The sky morphed from a familiar hazy blue into an even more familiar pitch black. Yet, somehow the stars seemed to shine brighter than usual. Perhaps it was because the sky was especially clear today or maybe Miyeon was just seeing things.

“I’m sorry,” Miyeon apologizes all of the sudden, “You must’ve been hurt after all that’s happened.”

“It’s okay,” Minnie assures her, “the rules of the deities aren’t your fault.”

“Thank you,” Miyeon smiles and closes her eyes before asking, “But this is a dream, isn’t it?”

Before she hears an answer, Miyeon opens her eyes again and she’s back in the realm of devils. She feels the flickering blue flames sear her whole body as she starts to take a few steps towards her beloved, still on the ground, asleep. She watches as her beloved sinks into the cold red mud and ashes fall upon her like little snowflakes. It brings her back to the very day they first parted, Miyeon wonders if today will end the same. 

She feels the fire slowly starting to die around her and the intensity of the blue start to fade. Her body starts to feel cold and she wonders what’ll happen to her next. After all, trading her soul for a few more years of Minnie’s mortality wasn’t the only ‘stupid’ thing that she did that day. With pain pulsing through her, Miyeon recalls how she offered her existence to the heart of all divine as well. She wonders what they’ve decided for her as she feels the strength in her fingers slowly slip away from her.

Meanwhile, Minnie faces her dreams with clarity for the first time in a long while.

She finds herself in the realm of the angels with the same perfect halls without a speck of dust in sight. After regaining all of her memories, she doesn’t remember this dream being part of any of them. Cautiously, she makes her way through the long white hall again, it's as empty and eerily silent as ever. Minnie decides to take her time walking through the hall this time, she doesn’t think that she has anything to fear now that she remembers anything.

As the clouds drift along the pure white palace, Minnie reminisces on how she first approached Miyeon on the very steps of this magnificent structure. Sure she was in awe of her beauty when she first saw her, but there was this strange gravitational pull that drew the girl to Miyeon as well. It was almost immediate that Minnie felt the connection when their eyes met each other and something inside of her seemed to click.

A smile crept up on her face as she remembered those moments where Miyeon was like a ghost to everyone. She seemed to quietly carry out orders all alone and was so aloof that it almost seemed like she wasn’t there. When Minnie had approached her, she remembers how the girl was so foolishly excited at first. Sure Miyeon had tried to hide her joy with a straight face, but even then Minnie could tell how much she appreciated.

She let out a laugh as she passed the stairs where it all happened.

Deeper down the hall, she truly wondered what was waiting for her at the end. Surely she couldn’t face any more devastation than she already had. The last memories of her families imprinted in her mind slightly weighed on her; she couldn’t help but think of the burning image of one of them and the hurtful forgetful faces of the other. She bit her lips as she continued on with her leisure walk, surely there was nothing left to lose now.

As she walks closer to the arch, Minnie squints and she thinks she can see a glowing blue.

The younger girl thinks about all the moments they spent together before that fateful day where everything fell apart. 

Back then, when Miyeon had brought her to the cottage for the first time, she only had a single chair then. She had told Minnie how she liked being alone and the younger girl never seemed to believe her. Minnie likes to believe that she was right as the next time she visited, there was a second chair there just for her.

When the former accursed archangel had professed her love for the first time, it was in those very fields where it was like only the two of them existed in the world. In a mortal world built on magic, Minnie had never felt or experienced anything more magical than that night.

It was as the sun fell slowly from the sky that Miyeon had given her red roses. With the golden glow of the sun and rose redness in the sky, she shyly held her hand as they walked through the field of flowers together. And, as the sun met the ground, Miyeon had asked if her lips could meet hers. Just like that, their first kiss happened, sunkissed and as delicate as the flowers she had given her.

Among all those memories, and the ones Miyeon had recreated, Minnie treasured them all. But, she did wonder if she could look upon these memories with a simple smile again when so much had been sacrificed in between.

When Minnie reaches the familiar arch where all the madness that had soiled perfectly happy moments in her life, she is met with the heart of all divine.

“So, did you regret it?” the voice reverberated through the long hall.  
  
“Regret what?” Minnie asks, “All I know is that you wanted me to be gone and that Miyeon’s been trying to make the most of the time we had together then. Is there anything else that I should know?”

“So she didn’t tell you,” the glowing cube’s voice booms through the structure.

“No, she didn’t,” Minnie grunts at the heart of all divine, wondering why she had ever looked to its guidance before.

“That’s a pity,” the voice mutters, “She is a coward after all.”

“What about it then?!” the girl shouts at the core of deities, frustrated with all the troubles she’s gone through because of the stupid rules it held up.

“The girl offered her soul,” the heart of all deities tells her, “And existence in exchange for yours. The deities would’ve erased your existence on that very day you decided to disobey us if it weren’t for her, it’s a pity she didn’t bother telling you before she tore your soul away.”

Minnie is stunned into silence and stands there silently for a solid minute, not knowing what to say or even feel. She supposes her emotions could be best as an initial shock where she comprehends the fact that her existence was bargained for. To live so long while not being actually aware of how close she was to death and complete erasure, of course, would come as an unexpected revelation to anyone. It made her feel scared and insecure that all those wonderful memories that she had, and her mere presence or impact on anyone, in this vast universe could very well not matter. 

But beyond this feeling of existentialism, which withered as other emotions started to build up inside of her, she felt anger and frustration burning inside of her. She was absolutely pissed that these decisions, regarding her existence and her life, were all decided by people or entities other than her. For something so centered around her, they seemed to forget her thoughts or wishes. Yet, she doesn’t know what else she would’ve expected. In the order and rules of the deities, the rules were simply being followed and Miyeon hard only managed to twist them in absolute desperation.

Still, none of it seemed to make sense to Minnie.

“Do you regret it?”

What did she have to regret if this all started with rules unknown to her? She had only made, what seemed to her, nearly insignificant small careless actions that happened to play into unfortunate events. Moreover, she didn’t know that it would be like this; heck, she had no idea that she would be in this position over mostly things that she could not control or made decisions over.

“What is there to even regret?” Minnie mutters, “The only thing I seemed to do was to live my life as I knew it.”

The cube’s glow dimmers at the response, it lets out a few pulses of light as it seems to think like any other sentient being. When it shines an icy bright blue again, it is almost like it’s come to a decision.

“I suppose you didn’t really have much of a choice,” the heart of all divine reasons, “So I’ll make you an offer.”

“How does that even settle things,” the devil grumbles under her breath.

“It doesn’t,” the cube merely responds, “that’s just how life works. She doesn’t have much time left, so take it or leave it.”

With that Minnie nods and the core of divinity makes its last exchange with the two lovers. 

And, it seems like Minnie can make stupid decisions too.

Miyeon blinks and she finds herself back in her cottage with the clear dark sky and speckled stars outside. Minnie is squeezing her hand tightly now and looking directly into her eyes with a look that Miyeon can’t quite decipher the meaning of. 

“Yes, Miyeon,” Minnie says to her, with a smile on her face.

“Yes what?”

Intertwining their fingers together, Minnie confirms, “This is a dream.”

“It’s strange, because it feels like I just woke up for a second and that everything was broken again,” the former archangel explains, “And you feel so real.”

The other girl merely laughs at the comment and stands up, walking her towards the door.

“Let’s see how pretty the night is today,” Minnie says.

Pushing the door open, Miyeon walks with her beloved, hand in hand, into the cool dark night. She feels like this is her dream almost because it’s everything she wished for, yet there was something about it that was beyond her. The wind gently brushes against them, it sends a shiver down Miyeon’s spine. She’s scared that even the faintest breeze may whisk this last dream of hers away.

“Relax,” Minnie assures her, almost as if she had read her mind, “This is my dream. I told you it’s been a while since I’ve had a dream like this, with you and I.”

“Then how am I here?”

Letting go of her hand, the younger playfully motions and lets a string of sparkles fall out her hands.

“Magic.”

Miyeon doesn’t believe it, but what could she do about it? It didn’t seem like Minnie was going to tell her the truth so easily and she was, regretfully, at the end of her wits. So she chases after the younger girl who is running through the fields, so freely, without the aliament she’s been suffering for all those years. Oh how the tables have turned now, she felt her body get weaker and occasionally became conscious of the scorching fire outside of this dream world. Wincing in pain, the former archangel pauses in the midst of the field to catch her breath.

Noticing and empathizing with her lover’s struggle, Minnie runs back to her and cups her face.

“Hey Miyeon,” she whispers, “you’re going to be okay, we’re going to be okay.”

“But Minnie,” Miyeon’s voice cracks as she confesses, “I’m disappearing.”

The illusion cracks then, and Miyeon sees the blue flames on the tips of her fingers. She feels tears rolling down her cheeks and the familiar feeling of the start of letting go. What she doesn’t expect though, is to see the same blue flames and tears reflected in her beloved.

“How?” she asks, “I thought that I’d saved you.”

Minnie wraps her arms around her and holds her body, holding her close to her heart as well, before telling her, “You’ve made your decisions then and I’ve made mine.”

Feeling the fire blaze around the both of them and the weird sensation of slowly fading, Miyeon mutters, “That isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” Minnie tells her, “But what I do with it and my existence is the only thing I can do about it.”

“And so you traded it for this stupid dream didn’t you?”

“Love makes you do stupid things,” Minnie whispers to her, facing her one last time.

Miyeon leans in to kiss her, making it the last thing she ever does, and laughs, “you really are my angel.”

  
  
  
  
  


End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moral of the story? There’s a lot to say about that, but to put it simply: there’s a lot of stuff the world can throw at you, and what you do with yourself is the only way to fight back. There were some themes of uncertainty in identity and discovering how to handle loneliness that I also tried to string in there, I’m probably missing some ideas too but eh. People can take what they want out of it, I mostly just enjoyed writing it for fun. I'm ready to go into temporary retirement now that I finished this lol, hope you enjoyed this story.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading this story and all the support, it’s the first multi-shot I’ve ever been able to finish/not delete. And as a gift, drew a little something (I don't know how to draw digitally yet so I apologize in advance) that I uploaded on tw*tter: https://twitter.com/kim_minnies/status/1262580486137884673?s=20


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